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LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS 
OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 
AND THE ANDES. 



LAST RAMBLES AMONGST 
THE INDIANS OF THE ROCKY 
MOUNTAINS AND THE 
ANDES. 

s/ 

BY GEORGE CATLIN. 

AUTHOR OF " LIFE AMONGST THE INDIANS," ETC., ETC. 




NEW YORK: 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
443 and 445, BROADWAY. 
1867. 



[The right of Translation is reserved.] 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 
1867,, by 

D. APPLETON & CO., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the 
United States for the Southern District of New York. 



PREFACE. 



T was said by a very great man that 
" Nothing can be more proper than 
that old people should write books for 
young folks, and that young folks 
should read them ; for old people have the greatest 
amount of experience, and young people have the 
greatest amount of time to profit by it." 

Considering myself now belonging to the first of 
this category, and with a good share of the ex- 
perience referred to, I shall take infinite pleasure in 
presenting this second volume of " Life amongst 
the Indians" to the readers of my first volume, who 
now amount, as far as I am able to learn, to some- 
thing approaching 60,000. 

These will doubtless search with avidity, when 
this volume comes forth, the means of commencing 
where the other volume left off, and of following 
me through the rest of the wanderings of my errant 
and chequered life ; and if it falls into others' hands, 
they should not cut its pages until they have called 




vi Preface. 

upon the publishers for the first volume, that they 
may appreciate the vast plains and rivers and 
forests, with their peoples and their animal creations, 
east of the Rocky Mountains and the Andes, before 
they undertake to follow me amongst rocks and 
snows, and through scenes that transpire on the 
cindered plains and pine-dressecl mountains and 
shores of the Pacific Ocean. 

Without the first volume, the reading of this will 
be like coming in at the play at the end of the 
second or third act ; the plot will be misunderstood, 
as the great and Avarlike and picturesque tribes of 
the prairies, the Sioux, the Comanches, the Osages, 
the Pawnees, &c, and their noble sports in the 
chase, and the stories of the "Kettle of Gold;' and 
the " Old Sawmill-tick;' with " John Dan vw" and 
" Johnny GNeil? &c, will all be lost ; and much, 
therefore, that is to be said in this volume would 
be unappreciated. 

This is all I need say in the Preface, for the 
reader, with these suggestions, will be able to 
follow me, and to appreciate what I shall have to 
say and to show in the following pages. 



The Author 






C 0 NTENTS. 




Chap. I. 


The Rattlesnakes' Den 


Page 
I 


Chap. II. 


Gold Hunting in the Crystal Mountains 


• 46 


Chap. III. 


Descent of the Yucayali . 


. 78 


Chap. IV. 


The Flathead Indians 


. 146 


Chap. V. 


California . . . . - . 


. 184 


Chap. VI. 


Rio de Janeiro . . . 


. 206 


Chap. VII. 


Buenos Ayres .... 


. 250 


Chap. VIII. 


Tierra del Fuego 


. 288 


Chap. IX. 


The Indians, where from ? 


• 304 


Chap. X. 


The Indians, who are they ? 


• 319 


Chap. XI. 


The Indians, where are they going? 


335 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

4 



PAGE 

v RATTLESNAKE TRAP 6 

V THE RATTLESNAKE IN ROWLEY'S TRAP ...... 7 

" THE RATTLESNAKES' DEN . ~- 

z / 

V ATTACKED BY PECCARIES ^ 

A VISIT FROM AN ANT-EATER 



§3 

1 BEAUTIFUL CANOES .... 

lz 5 

"SORE LIPS" I2 ^ 

NAYAS INDIANS . . 

J J 2 

A MEDICINE DANCE . 

I 0° 

1 TWO PORTRAITS ^ 

BLOCKS OF WOOD FROM THE UNDER LIP, ETC I38 

FLATHEAD INDIANS j g 

' FLATHEAD INDIANS ^ 

BA-DA-AH-CHON-DU, THE JUMPER l ~>] 

• A CROW AT HIS TOILETTE ^ 

\ - N "AH-QUOT-SE-0, SPANISH SPUR, AND NIC-WARRA . . . 190 



x List of Illustrations. 

PAGE 

^^"tir-national" 192 

botocudos and payaguas indians 213 

indian of the amazon 237 

pendent ornaments 243 

pendent ornaments 245 

unmarried girl of venezuela 246 

indian beaux ideals 248 

> killing wild horses with bolas 265 



ERRATA. 



For " Levins ;J read " Stevens.*' pages 1 16 and 117, 
and elsewhere. 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 



AND THE ANDES. 
CHAPTER I. 

THE RATTLESNAKES' DEN. 

HE readers of my first volume will have 
preserved some impression of the shape 
and position of my father's plantation 
in the picturesque little valley of the 
Ocquago, on the bank of the Susquehana river, 
hemmed in with huge mountains on either side, 
and in which was situated the " Old Sawmill 
Lick," and the scene of the " Kettle of Gold," 
which have been described in the first volume. 

As has been said, though not the place of my 
nativity, it was the tapis on which my boyish days 
were spent, and rife with legends of Indian lore^ 
its natural features, and its incidents stamped upon 
my youthful mind impressions which easily be- 
guile me in this, as in my first volume, again to 

B 




2 Ocqnago. 

loiter a little about it before I start off with my 
young readers to the vast and boundless regions 
where the principal scenes of this little book are to 
be laid. 

• "JohnDarrow" is recollected, and faithful "Johnny 
O'Neil," and their singular and respective characters 
will be better stereotyped in the little episode which 
is here to follow. 

Ocquago (Ohk-qua-guh), the Indian name of a 
straight mountain, of six or eight miles in length, 
in the southern part of the State of New York, 
having the cool and limpid river Susquehana 
gliding along at its western base, and a fertile 
valley of rich alluvion from one to two miles in 
breadth on the opposite shore, barricaded by the 
Randolph Mountains on the west. 

In the middle of this little valley lay my father's 
plantation, and above and below it, during the days 
of my boyhood, some eight or ten farms of less 
dimensions, and also bordering on the river shore, 
were under cultivation ; which, together with labourers, 
hunters, fishermen, &c, counted a population of 
something like two hundred persons. 

This picturesque, but insignificant little valley, 
which at that time had acquired no place in history, 
having been settled but a few years, nevertheless 
had its traditions of an exciting interest, as the 
rendezvous of " Brant," the famous and terrible 
Mohawk chief, and his army during the frontier 



Ocquago. 3 

war, in which the " Wyoming massacre" took place, 
and the finale of which was the subsequent deroute 
of Brant and his Indian forces, through the valley 
of the Ocquago, and beyond the Randolph Moun- 
tains, to the sources of the Susquehana, by the 
Pennsylvania militia. 

These events, and their attendant cruelties, both 
savage and civil, too recent at that time to be 
called traditions, accounted (as stated in the first 
volume) for the vivid and unfading impressions 
which I received, at an early age, of Indians, of 
" Indian massacres," &c. And the singular adven- 
tures here to follow will show how I received at the 
same age impressions not less exciting, nor less 
lasting, but of another kind, indicated in the head- 
ing of this chapter. 

Though the Indians had disappeared, and nothing 
but their oral history, and their bones, and their 
implements ploughed up in our fields, remained of 
them, there was yet another enemy, even more 
numerous, more cruel, and more deadly, and threat- 
ening to be more unconquerable and inextermin- 
able to deal with. 

The banks and the meadows of the Susquehana, 
in the beautiful valleys of Wyoming, Tioga, Che- 
nango, Ocquago, and Otsego, were probably more 
infested than any other portions of the globe, with 
rattlesnakes of all colours, and various dimensions, 
that struck at the heels of all that was mortal, man or 



4 The Rattlesnakes Den. 

beast, in the meadows or fields of grain, in which they 
crawled and wallowed during the summer season. 

Of these localities, the little valley of the Ocquago 
seemed to be the most cruelly inflicted by this 
terrible scourge, and no doubt so, from its limited 
dimensions and peculiar position, receiving the con- 
centration of these reptiles in the summer months, 
from the desolate mountains surrounding it. 

During the hay-making* and harvesting season 
these poisonous creatures were exceedingly dan- 
gerous to the lives of the labourers, and from my 
father's fields their frightful carcasses were daily 
brought in by my father's hired men, with their 
heads cut off by the scythe, or killed by the cudgel. 
And every summer, more or less lives of men, of 
women, or of children, as well as of horses, of dogs, 
and other animals were destroyed, in the otherwise 
peaceable and happy little valley, by these hidden 
and deadly enemies. 

With the habits and peculiarities of an enemy so 
deadly and so universal (and consequently so 
" respectable") as this, in the mountains and valleys 
of America, it may be well for the reader to be 
made a little more familiar in this place, for they 
are an enemy more dangerous than Indians, and 
will probably demand a large space in the narra- 
tions of incidents to be given in the following pages, 
as well as those mentioned in the former volume. 

As a natural history fact, and known to all the 



The Rattlesnakes Den. 5 

inhabitants of those parts where they abound, how 
curious that these reptiles, after spending the sum- 
mer season in the grassy valleys, and on the banks 
of the rivers and lakes, at the first indication of 
frost in the fall of the year, en masse, and simul- 
taneously, from instinct, commence a pi lgrimage 
across rivers, across lakes, and up the mountain 
sides, no matter what distance, to the a Rattle- 
snakes' Den," their winters rendezvous, where not 
only hundreds, but thousands, assemble. And in 
their inapproachable cavern, in a torpid state, they 
await the coming of spring, and the beginning of 
summer, when they venture forth again, and descend 
into the valleys, for another summer's campaign. 

How curious the fact also, that, in their summer's 
peregrinations, the male and female are always in 
company ; and how wonderful that instinct that 
enables them to track each other, and never to lose 
that company, though, when met, two are never seen 
together, but are generally within hearing of each 
other's rattle, or not far distant, following on the 
trail ! Most generally, if we irritate the one, and 
make it sound its rattle, we hear in the distance the 
sound of the other's rattle, in answer ; and if we 
kill the one we meet, and leave its carcass over night, 
we find the other by its side, or near it, the next 
morning. 

And a Rattlesnake Trap ! (who has ever heard of 
it?) first invented, no doubt, by Buel Rowley, one of 



6 Rattlesnake Trap, 

my father's labouring men ; the same who ploughed 
up the " kettle of gold/' and the rusty tomahawk, 
which it will be recollected left its indelible mark 
on my left cheek-bone. 

Well, the " Rattlesnake Trap," here it is — 




A simple log of wood, some three or four feet in 
length, and the size of a man's leg, or larger, with a 
hollow through it, large enough for the reptile to 
crawl through, but not sufficiently spacious for it to 
turn about ; its forward extremity being partially 
closed, to prevent the snake from passing out. 
Rowley, from a practical knowledge he had gained 
of the close manner in which this creature follows 
the trail of its mate, conceived the plan of conduct- 
ing it into a hollow tube from which it could not 
escape, being unable to retreat in its straitened 
and confined position, and checked by the reversed 
position of its scales. 

This ingenious machine was lodged in my father's 
woodhouse, 1 and when a rattlesnake was killed in 



1 An open shed, in which wood for the winter is stored. 



Buel Rowley . 7 

any of his fields, the trap was transported to a posi- 
tion near the spot, when the carcass of the snake 
was gently dragged towards it through the grass, by 
a thong, and pulled through the hollow of the log. 
After which a tenpenny nail or two driven into the 
forward end was sufficient to prevent the living 
snake from passing through, and at the same time 
to allow the light to enter. ' 

The carcass of the dead snake was then lifted 
from the ground and carried away ; and on 
Rowley's shoulder the next morning the rattlesnake 
trap was almost invariably transported back to the 
woodhouse ; the tail of the snake, with its rattles, 
hanging out, a harmless and amusing toy for the 
women and children to play with, for by touching 
them, or striking the log, they were instantly set in 
motion, and the expression and crescendo of their 
music controled by the harmless rage that was 
boiling within. 

Curiosity satisfied (and that curious propensity of 
the most of mankind " to finger danger when it is 
iron bound "), Rowley's pincers withdrew the nails 
in front of the cage, which was then passed between 
the bars of the fence, enclosing a field containing a 
number of hogs, and clipping the tail with its rattles 
as a trophy, the imprisoned reptile lost no time in 
launching itself out of its prison, and into the jaws 
of" the old sow," which stood ready, and whose fore- 
feet were instantly upon it and held it, whilst she 



8 Rattlesnake Trap. 

exhibited her swinish taste, by tearing it to pieces 
and devouring every morsel of it ! 

My father had learned (I don't know how) that 
the bite of a rattlesnake was not poisonous to the 
flesh of swine, and that those reptiles were invari- 
ably devoured by hogs that happened to come 
upon them ; both of which singular facts I often saw 
confirmed in my fathers fields of swine,' when he 
had ordered these living serpents to be thrown 
amongst them. 

Rowley's trap, for which he had no patent, was 
soon adopted in the other parts of the valley, and 
his enviable standing, as a public benefactor, was 
soon evident from the number of tails with rattles 
which were sent to him, and which he had demanded 
as a sort of Royalty for his invention. 

And yet, a greater trap than this awaited those 
poisonous beasts, which were at that time almost 
threatening the existence of the otherwise happy 
little colony of the valley of the Ocquago — a 
trap which, by way of comparison, might be called 
a wholesale trap — a cataclysm — a catastrophe, as 
will be seen, which rescued the valley from its 
dangers, and gained for its inventor, honours, though 
not immortal, yet of an enviable character, while 
they lasted. (We shall see anon). 

" Darrow " (recollect the empire which his Nim- 
rodic celebrity had gained over my youthful mind 
—my consummate admiration of his deer-stalking 



John Barrow. 9 

and panther-hunting qualities), D arrow, not a long 
time after the scene at the " Old Sawmill Lick," 
and, I think, early in the spring of 18 10, said to me 
one day whilst he and I were working in the field 
together, " George, I intend to play the devil with 
the rattlesnakes this spring — they've had it all in 
their own way long enough. You recollect poor 
Mary Judkins, George ?" 

" Yes, Mr. Darrow, I was close by her when she 
was bit last summer. I heard her scream when she 
was struck. There was a whole wagon-load of us, 
boys and girls, out on Bowman's ridge picking 
whortleberries ; she was reaching her hand forward 
when the snake jumped from a rock before her, and 
about even with her face, and bit her right in the 
vein of her neck ! She gave one scream, and fell 
backwards, close by me, and never got up. All the 
party gathered around her, and put her into the 
wagon, quite dead, and carried her home : and her 
neck and her arms were just the colour of the rattle- 
snake itself, which we found under the rocks and 
killed." 

" And that good soul, Heth, George, bitten on 
the floor of his own house I" 

* Yes ; that I didn't see, Mr. Darrow. but I heard 
of it." 

* It's getting too bad, George. These devils are 
increasing at such a rate that it's almost as much as 
a man's life is worth to work in the fields amongst 



io John D arrow. 

them. Now, George, I know where all these beasts 
come from ; I know the very house they all live in ; 
and you and I will make a smash among 'em, 
George, before many days come around/' 

Darrow then related to me what at that time was 
new to me, and which has been mentioned in a 
former page, that these reptiles all leave the valley 
at the first appearance of frosty nights in the fall of 
the year, and congregate in one immense cavern, 
where they spend the winter in a torpid state, and 
start off* in pairs for the valleys as soon as the 
weather is warm enough in the spring of the year ; 
and that for a week or two before the nights are 
warm enough for their travels, during the warmth 
of the sun in the middle of the spring days, they 
come out of their den, not only in hundreds, but by 
thousands, and lie for several hours in front of 
it basking in the sun, and return into their cave 
before the coldness of the evening approaches. 

"Why, that's the ' Rattlesnakes' Den,' that I 
have heard my father talk about." 

" Yes," said Darrow, "the ' Rattlesnakes' Den;' 
it's in the top of Steele's Mountain, back of Hil- 
bourns, under the high ledge looking off into 
Hemlock Hollow. About ten years ago these 
devils got to be so bad, that Joe Snidigar, Atwill, 
and myself, and several others, went out in a spring 
day and thrashed about three hundred of them 
to death whilst they lay sunning themselves in 



The Rattlesnakes' Den. 1 1 



front of their den ; and they are now getting to be 
so bad again, that you and I must make another 
row among 'em, George. Say nothing of it yet, 
but on Sunday, if it should be a sunny day, when 
neither of us have any work to do, we'll go and 
merely take a peep at them, and lay our plans as 
to the time and mode of attack." 

Sunday came, and it was a fine and sunny day ; 
and though I had difficulties of a very peculiar and 
embarrassing kind to contend with, I met Darrow 
as arranged, " in the lower barn/' with my little 
single-barrelled fowling-piece, and he in his hunting 
shirt and fox-skin cap, and rifle in hand, a model to 
which my whole soul aspired. 

My dear mother was a Methodist, and a devout 
and professing Christian, and my father a philo- 
sopher, professing no particular creed, but keeping 
and teaching the Commandments. My incurable 
propensity for trout-fishing, under the unfortunate 
conviction that they "took the fly" better on Sun- 
day than on other days, had gained me the con- 
demnation of those good parents, and on several 
occasions severe floggings, for disobeying their po- 
sitive commands as to fishing and shooting on that 
day. 

It had been a long time since I had had one of 
these, and though, old as I was getting, I still was 
under the injunction, and with the certain conviction 
that the penalty would be inflicted in case of dis- 
obedience. 



1 2 The Rattlesnakes' Den. 



Darrow assured me that our mission was one for 
the public good, offering to plead my case with my 
father; and leaving the "lower barn" with our 
pieces trailed, and following the bed of the " Big 
Creek/' so as not to be seen from the house, we 
soon reached, through my father's meadows, the 
river-side, where we got a canoe to land us on the 
other shore, at the foot of the mountain, into the 
thick forest of which we were soon ensconced, and 
our day's enjoyment (whatever might come after it) 
was now secure before us. 

We sat down upon a large log, and whilst Darrow 
was knocking the priming out of the pan and re- 
priming his gun, which he always did on entering 
upon promising hunting-ground, he said : — 

" George, Ave are now going to pass through one 
of my best ranges. Many a fine buck " Old Ben " 1 
has knocked over on this side of the ridge, and we 
have full two miles to go before we reach the 
" Rattlesnakes' Den." Keep some five or six rods 
behind me, George, and don't break a stick ; watch 
me close, and if you see me on my hand and knee 
(or on my belly, which is sometimes necessary), 
don't move an inch. On the first ledge we shall 
rise, about half a mile from here, is a famous buck, 
who always lies chewing his cud from nine or ten 
in the morning until near sundown. I've tried him 



! His rifle. 



The Rattlesnakes' Den, 1 3 

several times, but he's always too wide-awake for 
me. I've let fly at him two or three times, when 
nothing but his white flag was seen bounding 
through the bushes ; but those were random shots, 
only sent for amusement. I'll give him a call, how- 
ever, as we pass up the hill ; and a little beyond 
that, at the foot of the second ridge, I'll show you, 
George, the spot where I shot the beautiful painter, 
whose skin, you know, lies on the floor in your 
fathers hall, in front of the parlour-door." 

At this, with his rifle trailed in his right hand, 
and his wiper 1 in the left, and an extra bullet 
in his mouth, more quickly handled than if drawn 
from his pouch, and his body was seen gliding 
through the bushes and between the rocks without 
moving a leaf. Oh, how beautiful to my young and 
aspiring vision the cautious and graceful movements 
of this stalking teacher ! What pupil ever watched 
the magic touches of his master's pencil with more 
admiration than I watched the movements of this 
master-hunter as he led me through the forests and 
rocks and ravines of the mountain's side ? No time 
or circumstances have ever yet effaced the slightest 
impression then made upon my youthful mind, nor 
will they leave me while recollections last 

We passed the lair of " Old Golden" (as the fa- 



1 An extra ramrod, which hunters carry in their left hand, 
for facility in loading and cleaning their rifles, 



14 " Old Golden." 

mous a Big Buck" was called) without finding him 
at home ; and getting near to the top of the last 
ridge, I saw Darrow carefully sinking down upon his 
left knee, with his rifle drawn to his face. What a 
palpitation ! I heard my heart distinctly beat ! 
Was it a panther, or an Indian (for reports were 
that they were still lurking about) ? Was he to fire, 
or not ? And if he did, and should miss, or should 
wound — I was charged with small shot only, and 
what might the next moment disclose ? 

Darrow held his position without moving for 
a minute or two, when he gradually lowered his 
body to the ground, and, getting his face around so 
as to see me, beckoned with his hand for me to 
come on my hands and knees to him. I applied 
my first ideas of stalking as well as I could in my 
agitated state, and getting by the side of him, with 
a large log before us, which screened us from its 
view, he whispered to me : — 

" George ! it's a fine large doe. What a pity to 
harm the poor thing! She's big, and I haint the 
heart to draw a bead 1 upon her. Look at her, but 
be cautious." 

I raised my forehead above the log as gradually 
and cautiously as I could ; and at the instant that 
my eyes were above the surface of the log, I disco- 
vered the deer about a hundred yards from us, 
lying down, and with nose and ears pointed, looking 



1 To take sight. 



The Rattlesnakes Den, 15 

me full in the face ! She sprang upon her feet, and 
bounded off, and " Old Golden/' lying behind a 
bunch of fern at a few paces distant, rising as it 
were into the air, and waving his white flag to and 
fro, accompanied her ! 

" Zounds ! what a fool I've been, George ! " ex- 
claimed Darrow, "that old fellow has played me 
many a trick, but I never expected him in company 
with his wife at this season of the year. He don't 
get off in that way another time, I assure you." 

Poor Darrow (I never shall forget it), how he was 
chapfallen ; his face became wrinkled and creviced 
in a minute, and he sighed and groaned as he con- 
templated the beautiful position in which " Old 
Golden" had laid under the range of his rifle, " if he 
only had known it." However, the misfortune was 
irreparable, and we moved on towards the " Rattle- 
snakes' Den." 

On the top of the mountain, which was barren 
and level for a long distance, Darrow shouldered his 
rifle, and said : — 

" George, Ave can talk here as much as we please 
—no game lives here." He then said, " We are now 
close to the ' Den.' That tall pine you see yonder 
stands right upon the rock where the snakes come 
out ; and probably they go under the rocks as far 
as where Ave now stand. There's not another word 
to be said, but you keep a little back of me, and 
watch my signs." 

Darrow advanced on his hands and knees towards 



The Rattlesnakes Den. 



the brink of the precipice, and, getting within a few- 
yards of it, laid down his rifle, and then, lying 
closer to the ground, and advancing more slowly, 
got so as to look over and down upon the level 
platform of rock below. After gazing for a minute 
or so, by reaching back with his right hand he made 
signs for me to come to him, which I did, creeping 
in the same manner he had done, and leaving my 
gun behind. Getting by the side of him, and both 
of us permanently fixed and motionless, we had to- 
gether the strange view of some five or eight hun- 
dred of the reptiles (devils, as he called them) 
spread out on the surface of a level rock of some 
four or five rods in diameter, and twenty-five feet 
below us, in coils, in knots and bunches, basking 
in the sun, and all were motionless, and apparently 
asleep. Their scales, fresh from their damp cavern, 
and not yet soiled by their summer's travels, were 
glistening in the sun, of all colours — yellow, black, 
and white, and the breathing motions of their bodies 
gave them the sparkling effect of moving diamonds. 

In the midst of these groups were here and there 
harmless black snakes of some ten or twelve feet in 
length, intertwined and coiled with them as if 
members of the same venomous family. There 
were rattlesnakes of all sizes — some were black, 
some brown, and others of a bright yellow. Some 
were lying on their backs, perfectly straight, and 
others were hanging from the limbs of the adjoining 



The Devil's Ptdpit 



17 



trees, and others coiled around their trunks. Oh ! 
what a beautiful sight, and what a perdition, if, by a 
slip of the foot, one were to have been launched into 
the midst of it ! 

Darrow at length gave the signal, and slowly 
withdrawing his head, and I following, we were in a 
moment beyond their view, and safe for the remarks 
which Darrow was prepared to extemporise and I 
to ejaculate. I have no sort of recollection what 
they were, but whilst we were descending the moun- 
tain, on our way home, and had got about halfway 
down, Darrow said, " There, George, we are now at 
the 'Devil's Pulpit/" 

I had some vague recollections of stories I had 
heard about the " Devil's Pulpit," and being just old 
enough to know the meaning of a pulpit, I was cu- 
rious to know what the devil had to do with a 
pulpit. 

" Well," said Darrow, " George, I don't exactly 
know the whole history of the place myself, but 
that rock you see standing out in front of the Avail 
there is shaped like a pulpit, and has just room for 
a man to stand in it and make a speech or preach a 
sarment. And I've hearn say that when the Indians 
had made the ' Massacre of Wyoming/ the great 
Mohawk chief Brant held his army of 20-00 Indian 
warriors here encamped, on the very ground where 
we now stand, in front of the pulpit, to guard the 
narrows below, in case the Pennsylvania militia at- 

c 



1 8 The Devil's Pulpit 

tempted to follow the Indians through. Brant was 
a terrible warrior, though onlv a half-Indian ; he 
had brought a number of white prisoners to this 
place who had been taken in the battle of Tunk- 
hannock, and some of them who afterwards escaped 
said that he even' morning preached a sarment to 
his warriors from this pulpit, and everybody, know- 
ing him to be a very devil, called the rock the 
'Devil's Pulpit' But your father, George, can tell 
you more about it." 

We were, in a little time, from the " Pulpit Rock" 
down to the river's side, which we crossed, and 
entered my father's fields. Now was approaching 
the tribunal, the awful retribution for me. Darrow 
had engaged to plead my cause with my parents, 
and Sunday not yet being passed, we halted awhile 
at the " lower barn," where my little fowling-piece 
was secreted ; and Darrow fearlessly shouldering 
his rifle, we successfully entered mv mother's kitchen, 
without being noticed bv any one. 

Darrow, after waiting awhile for my trial to come 
on, gave me these consoling words,- — 

" I don't believe your father is going to say any- 
thing about it to-night, George, and I shall see him 
early in the morning." 

He then departed for his own home, half a mile 
distant, where he was living with his family ; and I 
soon after slipped into bed. Before I had got to 
sleep, however, a light entered my room. It was 



The Water-beech Sprouts, 19 

my father, with a candle in his hand. He took a 
seat by the side of my bed. Oh what a moment ! 

" My dear son/' said he, " you never tell me a 
falsehood. I have looked everywhere to-day, and 
your mother also, for the ' little musket.' Do you 
•know anything about it ? Where is it ? " 

" It's at the * lower barn,' father." 

" How came it there, George?" 

" I left it there, father." 

" It was missing this morning at an early hour, 
and you have been absent all day with it?" 
" Yes, father." 

" You recollect what I promised you if you ever 
broke the Sabbath again in that way, old as you 
now are ?" 

" Yes, my dear father." 

"You never knew me to break my promise, 
George ?" 
" No, father." 

" Would you wish me to break a promise, my 
dear son ?" 

" No, dear father." 

" Then get up and put on your clothes, and go 
down to the bank of the creek, below the wheat- 
stacks, and cut a good bunch of water-beech 
sprouts, 1 about three feet long, and lay them in 



1 Water-beech, a sort of beech that grows by the water's 
edge, and is very wiry and tough. 



20 The Water-beech Sprouts. 

your mother's cheese-room until morning;, which 
will give you time to reflect upon the truant you 
have been playing this day." 

Trusting to my advocate to speak for me, and 
my mind overloaded with what I had seen during 
the day, I failed to make any defence, and started 
off for the " beech sprouts/' which I procured, and 
went to bed. In vain I attempted to lie in bed in 
the morning until I could hear Darrow's voice 
below, for I was called up at an early hour ; and 
my father waiting for me at the bottom of the 
stairs, with the " beech sprouts" in his hand, said 
to me, as I came down, " Walk this way, George," 
as he went through the kitchen and into the wood- 
house, where we were alone together. 

" My dear son," said he, "you are old enough 
now to know the meaning of this, and the painful 
necessity of it ; that I do it not because I hate you, 
but because I love you ; and I am sure it will be 
the last time." 

" It shall be, dear, dear father." 

. * * * * * 

Darrow came in, but too late ; my case had been 
tried — judgment, sentence, and retribution ! How 
much and what he said to my father, and how fai- 
lle succeeded in exciting any repentant feeling, I 
never learned, though I thought for several days I 
discovered a sort of ex post facto signs of a partial 
forgiveness, arising from the plea that my friend 



The Rattlesnakes Den. 2 1 



and master, Darrow, had put in for me, the public 
importance of our expedition, which had led us to 
the " Rattlesnakes' Den" on Sunday, and now 
admitted by all. 

However, I was silent, and determined to be so, 
though Darrow, with the countenance of my father 
and all the neighbours, was proceeding with his 
plans for a grand onslaught on the " devils," in the 
course of a few days. Darrow was everywhere 
listened to in his descriptions of w T hat we had seen, 
and I was called on as a witness to the facts, but I 
was mum, having resolved to have no further hand 
in the affair. 

But when my father said to me, — - 

" George, my dear son, did you see, with Darrow, 
at the • ' Rattlesnakes' Den, J what he has de- 
scribed?" 

" Yes, dear father," (I said it in a sort of convul- 
sion, and before I willed it), " I saw it all, father ; 
it is all true." 

" Then, my dear boy, you shall go with us. We 
shall have a grand holiday on Wednesday, if the 
weather is fine. Captain Brush is going, and 
Medad, and Jonas. The Snidigars are going — 
Rowley and O'Xeil, and half-a-dozen others, and 
you shall join us, and carry the little musket for 
your weapon." 

What a concession ! I soon forgot the ordeal I 
had passed, and was inflated with the most inv 



22 



Old Golden, 



patient ambition for the catastrophe that was pre- 
paring. Wednesday (after a long time) came ; a 
fine sunny day, The Snidigars (old hunters) were 
on the spot, Atwill was there, and Heth, and 
Captain Brush, and all assembled at my father's 
house at ten o'clock in the morning, and all, in 
Heth's ferry-boat, crossed the river, and Darrow 
(with me by his side) taking the lead, we penetrated 
the forest on the mountain side, and soon arrived 
at the " Devil's Pulpit," which was considered half 
way, 

My father, to make it a real holiday, had freighted 
Johnny O'Neil, his faithful hired man, with a number 
of bottles of cogniac brandy from his cellar, and a 
good boiled ham, and other accompaniments for a 
comfortable lunch after the grand feat should be 
accomplished, and we should be on our return 
march. A bottle of this being used at the halt, 
and Johnny having safely secreted the rest in the 
" Devil's Pulpit," for our return, the party were 
about resuming their march, when Darrow said, — - 

" Hold on, my friends ; ' Old Golden' sleeps only 
a little above here, and right in our way." 

This required no explanation for any one present, 
for " Old Golden" was a famous deer of an enor- 
mous size, known to all the hunters of the valley, 
who had each in their turn followed him, and been 
foiled in all their attempts to come round him. The 
name of " Old Golden" had also been for years in 



Old Golden. 23 

the mouths of even the women and children of the 
valley, and many had seen his tracks, nearly the 
size of those of an ox. He had been followed from 
one side of the valley to the other, sleeping on the 
mountains on one side or the other, just as his 
security might demand it, and now had established 
his lair a little above the " Devil's Pulpit." 

" Hold on a bit," said Darrow ; " the cunning old 
fellow played George and me a shabby trick last 
Sunday, and I want to see if he will do the same 
thing to-day. You know him well, Snidigar ?" 

" That I do. The old fellow has slipped through 
my fingers often enough. I know exactly where he 
lies, Darrow." 

Darrow had his plans all laid, and now, assuming 
the spokesman, he said to my father, — 

" Squire, I want you to take charge of the party, 
and keep them all where they are, and without 
much noise, for about a quarter of an hour ; and if 
* Old Golden' is in his bed to-day, it is gone case 
with him : he will make fools of us no longer. 
Snidigar and I both know where he sleeps, and we 
know exactly where he runs when put up. George 
and I will go round and take our stand at the foot 
of the ' Eagle's Nest,' close to which he generally 
runs ; and Snidigar will go round and stand at the 
1 South Pass.' One or t'other of those places he 
must go out at ; and we will see to-day what he is 
made of. Wait here about a quarter of an hour, 



24 Death of Old Golden. 

Squire, giving us time to get to our stands, and then 
At\vill, who knows the way, will lead you up the hill 5 ' 

Darrow and I swung around a mile or so to get 
to our stand, and Snidigar started for the " South 
Pass," a famous run-way, known to the hunters, and 
often used by them for driving the deer through. 

Darrow took a tree, and placed me behind an- 
other close by, charging me to keep my bod}' hidden 
whilst looking around the tree ; and if I saw the 
deer coming in the distance, not to stir an inch, as 
the deer pay little attention to a man if he stands 
still. He had directed my attention to the quarter 
where the deer would first be seen, if he came. 

We had not stood many minutes before I heard 
the heavy tramp of his feet amongst the leaves and 
sticks, as he was bounding over the logs, and was 
approaching ; and at length the dodging of his white 
flag amongst the bushes showed that he was close 
at hand, and in an instant leap, his full and frightful 
figure plunged out of the thicket into the open 
timber ; and just before he was to have passed us, 
" Ala !" said Darrow, in an under and tender tone, 
and he stopped, with his legs braced out, read}- for 
another spring ; but it was too late, for bang ! went 
Darrow's rifle, and that spring he never made, but 
reeled backwards and fell, and was dead in an in- 
stant ! Darrow ran up to him as quick as he could, 
and drawing his long knife from his belt, cut his 
throat, whilst I was cautiously advancing up. 



Death of Old Golden. 25 

" That's the way, George!" said he. " < Old 
Golden' don't play any more of his tricks." 

A place has been kept clear on my retina for the 
impression of that picture then made, which nothing 
in the whole course of my life has effaced or in the 
least obscured. 

The horns of this noble buck, which at that sea- 
son were growing, were in the velvet, and, when run- 
ning, they looked like a chair carried on his head. 

Darrow had set his rifle against a tree, and, with 
his knife in his hand, was giving me some lessons 
for my future guidance in deer-hunting. 

" To stop a deer, George, when running, always 
call " Ma !" they are sure to stop ; if you whistle, it 
is apt to frighten them, and make them run faster. 
And when your deer is down, always cut its throat 
as quick as possible, to bleed it properly ; if you 
don't, you have the blood all inside, which is awk- 
ward in dressing it, and hurts the meat also." And 
pointing to the mark of his bullet, " The old fellow 
stopped with his head and shoulders right behind 
that beech-tree, so I took him in the kidneys. The 
best place to aim, George, is always at the heart, 
just back of the fore-shoulders, and rather low down ; 
and next to that the kidney ; it's a small mark ; but 
if you can hit it, it is just as fatal as to strike the 
heart. It's just forward of the hip-bone, and a little 
above the centre." 

Darrow now went a little around the pomt of 



26 The Rattlesnakes Den. 

rocks, and sounded his whistle, the hunter's call, 
which he always carried, and in a little time Snidi- 
gar, who had heard his rifle, and now knew what 
was the result, soon came up, and soon followed 
Atwill, with the whole of the party. " Old Golden" 
down was a splendid sight for all, and in a few 
minutes his skin was off, and his heavy quarters 
were on the hunters' shoulders, and were carried 
and suspended in our route to the " Rattlesnakes' 
Den," to be taken up on our return from that en- 
terprise. 

On our route again ; we were soon on the top of 
the mountain, where a sort of council of war was 
held, when Darrow and Jo. Snidigar, who had been 
parties in the onslaught ten years before, laid the 
plans of attack and took the lead. 

I was to creep cautiously up to the brink of the 
precipice from which Darrow and I had viewed the 
reptiles a few days before, and getting into my 
position, to be perfectly still and ready to fire'; 
until Darrow, and Snidigar, and Atwill, and the 
rest of them, had got round on the hill-side below 
the den, and below the level platform on which the 
reptiles were sleeping. 

From that point the hill descended with a steep 
declivity, up which the invading parties were cau- 
tiously to advance, unseen, except by me, and 
within a few paces of where the snakes were lying ; 
each armed with a heavy club of six or eight feet 



The Rattlesnakes Den, 27 

in length, to be wielded with both hands, and paid 
on to the group when the concerted signal should 
be given, For this Darrow had ordered me to 
watch his fox-skin cap, and when he gave the 
signal of " ready," I was to fire into the thickest of 
them, and the discharge of my gun was to be the 
signal for all to rush on. 

Though my father had indicated that I might 
carry the "little musket," a light one-barrelled 
fowling-piece belonging to me, I had, without his 
knowledge, designed something more destructive 
for this particular occasion, and had borrowed of 
Captain Beebe, our nearest neighbour, an old 
Revolutionary rusty musket, of larger calibre and 
of greater power, and charged it before starting 
with an exorbitant charge of duck-shot ; and just 
before getting to the brink of the precipice, to be 
sure that my explosion should lack nothing, had 
rammed down an extra charge of shot on top of 
the others. And with this, which required my 
utmost strength to elevate, I was peeping over the 
brink of the precipice. (Plate No. 2). 

To my astonishment and extatic delight, in the 
midst of the group there was a knot of these reptiles 
the size of a bushel basket, wound, twisted, and 
interlocked together, with their heads standing out, 
—just the mark I wanted for the old musket. I got 
exceedingly timid and nervous while waiting for 
the signal, but when it came I " let fly !" 



28 The Rattlesnakes Den. 

I knew nothing, for some time afterwards (when 
WaS P lcked U P)> what had transpired from that 
moment. I saw nothing of the grand melee that 
ensued, nor ever knew anything of it, except what 
1 got from tradition. 

The old Revolutionary musket, doubly (if not 
trebly) charged, and filled with the rust of many 
years, and pointed down Mil when I fired had 
made a tremendous rebound, slapping me oil the 
side of my head, and pitching over, a rod or so 
behind me. I was found lying on my back after 
the fracas was over, by several of the party, who 
had gone around and ascended the ledge to where 
1 was. I was put upon my legs, but covered with 
Wood, which was running quite into my shoes ! 
However, I was soon on the battle-field, and helped 
to count the scalps. My double charge of shot had 
cut the knotted mass (perhaps from fifty to one 
hundred) to pieces, and the party rushing on with 
their clubs, had thrashed some hundreds more to 
death, whilst hundreds were saving themselves by 
running under the rocks into their den. 

- a , C 1 ° Uncil of war a ^in held on the battle- 
fiela while counting the scalps of some five or six 
hundred slain, and whilst Darrow and Snidigar and 
Atwill, and others, were pulling off the glistening 
skins and rattles of some of the most beautifully 
coloured of them, the rattle of one was heard, 
which, m the death-struggle, had escaped over the 



The Rattlesnakes Den. 29 

edge of the rock, and slid down the mountain-side 
for a considerable distance. It was a huge speci- 
men ; and Snidigar cut a pole with a crotch at the 
end of it, which was put upon the reptile's neck, 
when Darrow took it by the throat with his hand, 
and brought it alive on to the battle-ground, 

An instant thought struck me, and I said, 
" Father, if a horn of powder was fastened to the 
fellow's tail, and a slow match applied to it, and he 
allowed to drag it into the den, wouldn't the whole 
lot of them be destroyed ?" 

"Good!" said Darrow. "George, you are now 
the best hunter in the valley of the Ocquago." 
Snidigar took the idea, and my father also, and the 
rest of the party. Snidigar had an immense pow- 
der-horn attached to his bullet-pouch, which was 
taken off for the purpose, and the other hunters 
emptying their horns into it, filled it to the brim. 
A string of four or five feet in length was tied to 
the rattlesnake's tail, and at the end of it the 
powder-horn, with a slow 'match of a yard or more 
in length, ^hich Snidigar made of some wetted 
and twisted tow, filled with powder, dragging after 
it. 

This fatal appendage all ready, and Darrow still 
holding the reptile by the neck, laid it upon the 
ground near the mouth of the den. When all 
hands, excepting Snidigar and Darrow, ran down 
the hill some distance, and most of them, like 



3° The Explosion, 

myself, took positions behind large trees. Snidigar 
set fire to the fuse, and Darrow let go, and both ran 
for secure quarters, when the powder-horn could 
be heard, rattling amongst the rocks, as the snake 
was carrying it home to its defeated comrades. 

A breathless silence of a minute or so, and bang ! ! 
(like an instant clap of thunder) went the horn of 
powder., shaking the very earth on which Ave stood, 
and sending up blue streams of smoke through the 
crevices opened in the solid rock of twenty-five feet 
in thickness overlaying the den ! The smoke rose 
in clouds amongst the trees, and when cleared away 
all hands ventured again on the scene of action, 
where not the sound of a rattle, even in distress, 
could be heard, and where no mortal being could 
have escaped destruction. 

" I'll be blathered, Squeer Cathlin " (as he called 
my father), said Johnny O'Neil, " if iver thase var- 
mints mahks us iny mare trooble, they've all gan 

to the Divil, Squeer ! " — and turning to me 

"They've cast you a lackin, Garge, and a bloody 
noase, but that's nathin." 

A look of approbation from my father was even 
more encouraging than the speech of Johnny; and, 
what was still more satisfactory to my pride, was 
the unanimous applause of the model hunters, 
Darrow and Snidigar, and which all the rest of the 
party gave me, as the inventor of the scheme by 
which the pests and the terror of the inhabitants of 



The Bloody Run. 31 

the flourishing and happy little valley of the 
Ocquago were disposed of, undoubtedly, for several 
years to come. 

Before commencing to descend the mountain, I 
recollect all hands were for a while seated in the 
shade of some large oaks, when several pipes were 
lit, and a bundle of cigars distributed, which my 
father had brought in his pocket. From the spot 
where we sat, we had an extensive view to the 
East, overlooking the " Sturrukker" and the "Hem- 
lock Hollow" 

The "Sturrukker" (or "bloody run"), a large and 
dashing stream, emptying into the Susquehana at 
Hilbourns, three or four miles distant from where we 
were sitting, said to have " run red with blood " 
during the Indian war, waged but a few years 
before ; and since, equally famous for the incredible 
quantity of trout taken in its black waters, and in 
the taking of which several lives were said to have 
been recently taken by the Indians of Hemlock 
Hollow, in which dark and dreary solitude the stream 
rises. 

During our ascent of the mountain, and even 
when taking off the skin of " Old Golden," from 
remarks made by Darrow and Snidigar, I learned 
that the party were ascending these mountains 
under a sort of presentiment that their day's sport 
might be intercepted by lurking and revengeful 
Indians, said to be still hanging about the Ocquago 



3^ Hem lock Hollow. 

and Randolph Mountains ; and the fact seemed to 
be well known by Darrow and Snidigar, and other 
hunters, that, since the defeat and expulsion of 
Brant, a lingering and marauding part}- of Oneidas 
were still remaining ensconced in the dark and 
almost impenetrable forest of the " Hemlock Hollow" 
a constant terror to the border inhabitants, and 
game, occasional!}-, for the rifles of the hunters 
which the}- had to contend with. 

Though nothing as yet had transpired to affect 
the nerves or apprehensions of the party as to 
mdians, and whilst they were enjoying their tobacco, 
I saw Snidigar's corrugator muscles drawn down, 
and his long forefinger of the left hand pointing to 
the dark green "Hemlock Hollow*' which lay beneath 
us. and to which Darrow's eye was being directed, 

"There," said he. "there are those devils again 

there's their smoke rising above, the hemlocks ! 
'Red Feather' is there. Darrow, and 'Yellow 
Mocasins ;' I'll be bound those fellows are back 
again, and very likely a party with them — the poor 

people at Hilbourn's Landing are in great danger 

they ma}- ail be cut off" 

" I know," said Darrow, "we'll have to give it to 
those chaps again." 

"And I howp," said Johnny O'Xeii. who was lis- 
tening to the conversation, " I howp, gintlemin, 
ye'll fiat be dowen of it to-day. I thank we'd 
.batter be gangin tow-ards howm. for won't the 



Jubilee at the Devil's Pulpit. 33 

thunder and the smohk we've been a raisin' bring 
thase divils upon us ?" 

The party seemed mostly to incline to Johnny's 
opinion, and were soon on the march, descending the 
mountain, as they were evidently not prepared for 
an Indian fight. 

Poor Johnny was no doubt influenced by a double 
thought — of the smoke of the Indians in " Hemlock 
Hollow," on the east side of the mountain, and the 
" bottles of brandy" he had secreted at the " Devil's 
Pulpit," on the west side, towards which we were all 
now progressing. 

On our way, the quarters and skin of " Old 
Golden" were again taken on to the shoulders of 
the hunters ; and, arrived at the " Devil's Pulpit," 
the party were seated on some large logs on a level 
plain in front of the pulpit, and ever good-natured, 
Johnny brought forth with great alacrity and some 
grace, his hidden bottles of brandy, and his boiled 
ham, &c. 

As in the celebrations of most great victories, 
where jocose hilarity, boasting, threatening, and 
defying are mixed with the cup that's passing 
around, so with Johnny's tin cups of brandy and 
slices of ham, which were dealt about, were ejacu- 
lated the most unqualified exultations for the 
conquest of " Old Golden," the most unfeeling 
huzzas for the fate of the poor rattlesnakes, and 
boasts of the unerring truth of " Old Ben" and 

D 



34 An Ambuscade. 

u Long Polly/' 1 and fearless contempt for the ''''Red 
Feather" and his party of marauders, whom Johnny 
O'Xeil had " supposed' 1 might be coming upon them 
from * Hemlock Hollow." 

In the midst of this jubilee lunch,, in which some 
were seated on logs and others upon the ground, 
and the conversation was, of course, on rattlesnakes 
and Indians, bang ! went a rifle on our left, and at 
a distance of some twenty-five or thirty rods, the 
smoke of which was seen amongst a thicket of 
bushes, and the ball of which was heard as it went 
whizzing over our heads. 

Darrow at the time was sitting on a log, some- 
what higher than the rest of us. All of us sprang 
to our feet, or on to our hands and feet, and amongst 
the last were Darrow, Snidigar, and Atwill, the only 
ones who had rifles with them. 

" That's a close shave," said Darrow ; " he knows 
my old fox-skin cap, but it was only a graze, any- 
how." 

"That's 'Red Feather,''" said Snidigar. 

^No doubt of it," said Darrow. "I know the 
crack of his rifle ; it's not the first time that I have 
heard it. He s snatched many a fine buck out of 
my hands on these mountains, and you and I know 
the music of his rifle, Snidigar, and we shall have 
more of it. Look wild V s 

" Lie close there, even- one of you," said Snidi- 



The Attack. 35 

gar, as Darrow was creeping forward on the ground, 
as close as a rattlesnake would crawl, to the roots 
of a large beech tree, poising his rifle in his left 
hand before him in a horizontal position. 

"Take the pine-log there, near its root," said 
Darrow to Snidigar, " and see every leaf that stirs 
in that direction." 

The rest of the party were dropped under or by 
the side of the logs, and as whist as mice, all except 
Johnny O'Neil, who had also been flat, but had 
conceived the plan of pushing down a handfull of 
buck-shot into my old musket, and which he was 
doing by resting on one elbow. 

I got my head sufficiently raised to see my friend 
and master, Darrow, whose every motion I was still 
studying, as important to the education I was re- 
ceiving. His motions at that time were all so slow 
as to be almost imperceptible, and on either side of 
the tree, before advancing his head far enough to 
see, his fox-skin cap was held a little in advance, so 
as to receive the bullet when it should come. I saw 
him at length lying perfectly still for a minute or 
so, w T hen his cap was lowered down, and his rifle 
gradually raised to his face. He didn't fire, and in 
a moment lowered it again, but before taking up 
his cap, he raised it quickly up and fired ; and in- 
stantly, from amongst the logs, with a tremendous 
crash, Johnny O'Neil let off the old musket with 
its charge of buck-shot in the same direction. 

Darrow at this time was flat on his back, and 



36 The Attack. 

with his wiper was pushing down another ball, when 
in a low whisper he said, " It's nothing — it was only 
a shaking leaf." Johnny O'Neil, however, actually 
saw an Indian, and saw him quail before the handful 
of buck-shot! 

" I've kilt one of the divils!" said Johnny. 

Snidigar whispered to him to hold his tongue, 
and he could shoot no more, for his buck-shot had 
given out. 

Darrow was on the lookout again, and all the 
party resting in breathless anxiety, when "spang!" 
said another rifle behind us (and exactly in the op- 
posite direction, the Indians' mode precisely, and on 
the level platform on which we were resting, below, 
and in front of the pulpit rock), and whew ! — went 
the ball over our heads. 

Snidigar, from the beginning of the fight, had 
placed Atwill on the lookout in that direction, ap- 
prehending, from Indian modes of warfare, that we 
should be attacked on both sides simultaneously. 

Atwill could see nothing to " draw a bead" upon, 
though the smoke of the Indian's gun, as in the 
other case, was seen rising out of the bushes. Dar- 
row was steady at his post, and looking out, and 
Snidigar's eagle eyes were roaming about in all 
directions, and not a leaf moved without his 
seeing it. 

The Indians had decidedly the advantage, being 
sheltered by the thickets on each side of us, when 



The Attack. 37 

our warriors were obliged to stand exposed, compa- 
ratively in open ground. 

The most of our party being unarmed, and we 
being surrounded, it was evident that our best 
chance was to lie as still and close as possible, and 
meet what might come in the best manner we could, 
with the three rifles of famous hunters to protect us. 

There was no use in advancing, which would only 
expose us to the Indians' fire, and the suspense be- 
came awful, waiting for the attack to be resumed. 
In the midst and silence of this, I heard my father 
whispering to Johnny O'Neil, on the other side of 
the log, and, from what I could understand, he was 
sending Johnny off into the valley for help : — 
" From the very first leap that you make," said my 
father, " don't even turn your head to look back, 
but go straight to the river — to Atwill's house ! — 
tell his brother — and tell him to bring the Hil- 
bourns ! Send some one to Heths ! — Take Atwill's 
canoe and cross over — tell Rowley and the other 
men in the field ! — jump on to the sorrel mare 
in the south stable — and go up the valley at 
the utmost speed ! Go to the Buels ! — go to the 
Smiths ! At the Devil's Pulpit— the Devil's Pulpit! 
Mind!" — as I saw Johnny taking his tremendous 
kangaroo leaps down the hill, when I peeped over 
the log. 

Johnny was out of sight in an instant, and, for 
one, out of danger ; and the instant thought came 



38 " Squeer Cathlin kilt." 

that / too, in the like way, could save one, and 
perhaps help in bringing succour to the besieged 
and doomed party. And as quick as thought, a 
bound and a leap or'two took me out of the sight 
and hail of the party, and, like a rolling hoop, I 
was bounding and rebounding down the mountain- 
side for a mile or more. 

Atwill's wife, where Johnny had been and re- 
ported as he passed that " Squeer Cathlin" (no 
doubt to make the alarm more exciting) was " kilt," 
and to Mrs. Atwill and others whom I met, that 
"Garge" was wounded (for I was still covered with 
blood from the bruise of the old musket, and had 
no time then to explain the cause of), and that he 
had himself " kilt one of the divils." 

Johnny was soon across the river, and, astride of 
the sorrel mare, was electrifying the people of the 
valley as he advanced towards its head, and rallying 
the rifles into the field. Men were everywhere 
seen running, some on horseback and others on 
foot ; and in a little time the river was spotted with 
canoes, with their glistening paddles and rifles, on. 
their hurried way to the scene of action, to land at 
Atwill's, as Johnny had said, and proceed to the 
" Devil's Pulpit," where the battle was waging. 

Horsemen were started across the mountains for 
the rifles of Randolph Valley ; and horns were 
blowing, women were screaming, and dogs were 
howling, and even the very atmosphere of the little 



Johnny O' Neil recruiting. 39 

valley seemed to be aware of the horrid scene that 
was transpiring at the " Devil's Pulpit/' and to breathe, 
in unison with the voices of the living, " Death to 
the Indian devils, every one of them !" 

What a piece of good luck for Johnny O'Neil and I 
that in an instant's thought we bounded off and 
escaped as we did ! And how little, two hours 
before, was dreamed of in this quiet little valley, 
and by the jovial party at the " Rattlesnakes' Den," 
of the scenes now to be related ! ~I would stop here 
if I could, but the whole must be told. Who had 
expected the dread sound of the frightful war- 
whoop, and the relentless blows of the tomahawk 
and scalping-knife ? Who had thought that these 
things were to be unburied, and stained again with 
the blood of the innocent and quiet inhabitants 
of the little valley of the Ocquago ? 

What reader who has ever read the history of the 
ill-fated valley of Wyoming, of its " Indian Mas- 
sacre," the battles at " Bloody Run," of " Ooster- 
houts Narrows," and of " Tunkhannock," will lack 
the patience to bear with me a few moments until 
we can arrive at the end of this gathering storm, 
or lack the means of appreciating its anticipated 
horrors when they are made known ? The mind 
shudders at scenes of blood, of massacres, and 
murder when they transpire, and that is enough ; 
and therefore the finale of these descriptions must 
await the result. 



4-0 Approaching Volunteers. 

I, as I have said, luckily scaled the mountain's 
side, crossed the river, and got home. My dear 
mother met me with screams, as I was covered yet 
with blood ; and learning from me that " Squeer 
Cathlin" was not yet "kilt," she washed off the 
blood, and put me into a clean shirt. And gallant 
Johnny O'Neil at this time was galloping down the 
valley with his scattered volunteers, and the canoes 
of the river were landing their heroic cargoes at 
" Atwill's Landing," where Johnny and myself had 
first arrived in our stampede from the " Devil's 
Pulpit" 

There had been no Devil to preach to the poor 
affrighted group packed away under the logs, or 
watching, with their rifles, on their hands and knees, 
or bellies, for the show of a red feather or a string 
of wampum. 

Whilst weary and nearly exhausted, and im- 
patient for the battle or a rescue, the awful silence 
was at last broken by a terrible, a wicked, and a 
cruel laugh that broke out from the summit of the 
rock above the Pulpit, higher up than the affrighted 
group had been looking, from the stretched mouths 
of two giggling country lasses of their familiar ac- 
quaintance, who sat overlooking the unhappy and 
imprisoned group, having their two sweethearts 
seated behind them, and joining in the laugh, with 
their rifles on their shoulders. 

The prostrate group gradually arose from their 



End of the Battle. 4 1 

painful lairs, and Darrow, rising upon one knee, 
and bringing his rifle to his face, exclaimed, " Bo- 
gard, you'll not play that trick again." But Bogard's 
head was lowered out of sight, and that of Trow- 
bridge, his companion, and their damsels departed 
with them. 

The Indian battle, of course, with all its horrors, 
terminated here. Bogard and Lyman Trowbridge 
had been engaged to join the party to the " Rattle- 
snakes' Den," but mustering their sweethearts to 
accompany them, were behind time, and left be- 
hind. They had followed on the trail, and travelling 
slow, with petticoats, through the thickets, had met 
the returning party, without being themselves disco- 
vered, near the " Devil's Pulpit," and resolved to 
give them a " sensation," which had been done in 
the manner described ; one firing his rifle over their 
heads from the right, and the other from the left, 
from which points, unseen, they had mounted the 
precipice and joined their damsels, and with them 
sat amusing themselves by overlooking the splendid 
and warlike manoeuvres, transpiring below, of pre- 
paring for an Indian battle. 

Darrow had laid until his legs were stiff, and the 
strained eyes of Snidigar had become bloodshot. 
The rest of the party, stowed away under the logs, 
came forth in better condition, and in the midst of 
an excited dialogue as to the infamous trick, and 
the manner in which it should be eventually 



42 Jo Snidigar and Bill. 

punished, the undevoured crumbs were gathered 
up, and a bottle or two of brandy yet remaining 
their suddenly broken lunch was resumed with in- 
creased appetites. 

In the midst of this, Snidigar's long forefinger 
was^ seen pointing down the hill. " Look ! there's 
Bill" (his brother, also a celebrated hunter), "there's 
a fellow always ready." Bill Snidigar was a man 
six feet and a half high, and with his head and 
shoulders rising out of the fern (for he was on his 
hands and knees), with his rifle in his hand, and at 
thirty or forty rods distance, where he had arrived 
he was ready for the fight, for the rescue. 

At a less distance, and further to the right and 
from behind an oak tree, "Tom Ely" gradually 
showed out his ugly face ; and within a few rods 
and further to the left, appearing like mermaids look- 
ing out of the sea, were discovered the uncovered 
foreheads of "Jake and Jim Seeley," never behind ; 
their bodies hidden in the mass of fern in which 
they were embedded. These were the foremost for 
the rescue, and first on the ground, like serpents 
silent and unseen, they were on the spot, and ready 
for action. 

The "up river boys" had landed at Atwill's 
ferry, and were now spread out, and entering the 
forest in position, and ready for a tree fight, sound- 
ing the frightful war-whoop, and advancing from 
tree to tree, as the forest rang with the echo of their 
yells a-head of them. 



Triumphal Procession. 43 

The besieged party at this time were gathered 
up, with their rattlesnakes' skins bandaging their 
hats, their waists, and their arms, and others were 
carried on poles as flags and trophies. 

The beautiful and silent vanguards then rose from 
their hidden lairs in the fern all around, came up, 
got a drink of cogniac brandy, raised the war-whoop 
over the saddle of " Old Golden," with whom all had 
been acquainted, helped to transport his remains, 
and meeting the advancing columns, turned them, 
and all together descended the mountain's side to 
the river shore, where boats were ready to cross 
them over, and other boats of riflemen were just 
arriving. 

Across, all hands met upon my father s meadows, 
and my father taking the lead, the little army was 
soon upon the lawn of my father's house, on which 
all were seated. A bottle or two more of brandy 
added to the merriment of that picturesque scene, 
in which I was put forward in a white shirt, and 
with a clean face, as the hero of the day. 

At this moment two poor young men came up 
from " down the river." each one bringing a string 
of several dozens of fine trout. " Jo Still," who 
was spokesman for the two, said, "Squire Catlin, 
what will you give ?" holding them up. 

u Do you mean for all ?" 

"Yes, squire."' 

"What do you expect for them ?" 



44 The Rattlesnakes Den. 

"Well, we'll take a dollar, squire." 

There it is, said my father. " Still " (inquired 
my father, as all the party were listening), "where 
did you catch these ? " 

"In Hemlock Hollow, squire. The Sturrukker 
is full on 'em there, and yesterday bein a showery 
day, they bit uncommonly well." 

" But I thought there were Indians there ? " 

"We thought we saw their smoke there to-day. 
We feared that 'Red Feather' and ' 'Yellow Moccasin' 
were there." 

"No," (said the second fisherman, as he'advanced 
forward, and drew his shirt-sleeve from his elbow 
to his wrist of each arm across his face, beneath 
his nose), "no, squire, I'll be darned if that's so, 
there haint been an Ingin there these five years! 
1 Jo Still' and I has each on us got a nice little 
farm a cummin on there in 'Hemlock Holler.' 
We've been burnin logs there for some days, and I 
think that was the smoke you seed, squire. We 
was gitten a little afraid this mornin howsomsever, 
when we saw a smoke on Steele's mountain, or 
somear thar abouts, and thinkin it might be Ingins 
(though I think they dasent come to Hemlock- 
Holler any more), we still thought twas best to take 
our wives and little ones down to Hilbourn's land- 
ing for a day or two, and from there we've just 
cummed up here, squire." 

My father explained to these men the cause of 



The Rattlesnakes Den. 45 



the smoke they had seen on Steele's mountain, 
and twilight approaching, with a few united war- 
whoops, the party dispersed, giving " three cheers 
for 'Garge' " (which Johnny O'Niel proposed), "who 
has been lacked, and been kacked, but has blawn the 
pison manufactury to the divil !" 

So much, and nothing would have answered short 
of it, for the affair of the " Rattlesnakes' Den," a 
legend not before known in history, but rife with the 
name of its hero in Susquehana lore. 



CHAPTER II, 



GOLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS. 

N the past chapter we have halted a 
little, and I hope not too long, amongst 
the scenes of my boyish life ; in this, I 
shall retrace some of the interesting 
steps of my elder days ; and stopping occasionally 
for scenes which I too hurriedly passed by in the 
first volume of this work, will bring the reader to 
where that left off, with a field vast and boundless 
before us, in which again to view the Indians and 
the incidents of Indian life. 

In the first volume the reader learned that I had 
travelled eight years amongst the tribes of North 
America, east of the Rocky Mountains, and made 
a collection of more than 600 portraits of Indians 
and paintings illustrating their modes of life ; and 
that I made an Exhibition of the same in New 
York, in Paris, and in London. 

That Exhibition was very popular, and gained 




Daniel Webster s Speech. 47 

me great applause, and money also ; but, like too 
many fast men, I was led into unfortunate specula- 
tions, and, like them, suffered injurious conse- 
quences. 

At that time, however, the Senate of the United 
States was considering a Bill for the purchase of 
my collection, for the sum of 65,000 dollars. A 
committee had reported a bill in favour of the pur- 
chase, and in their report had stated that they con- 
sidered the price of 65,000 dollars to be a moderate 
compensation for it ; and I had encouraging as- 
surances of its success. 

Messrs. Webster, Seward, Foote, and the other 
Federal members were in favour of the appropria- 
tion, and voted for it ; and the democratic members 
voted against it. Mr. Webster advocated the pur- 
chase, in a long and eloquent speech, of which the 
following is a brief extract : — 

Extract from the Speech of the Hon. 
DANIEL WEBSTER, on a motion in the 
Senate of the United States, for the 

PURCHASE OF "CaTLIN'S INDIAN COLLECTION," 
IN 1849. 

" Mr. President : The question is, whether it 
does not become us, as an useful thing, to possess in 
the United States this collection of paintings, etc, 
made amongst the Indian tribes ? Whether it is not 
a case for the exercise of large liberality — / will not 



48 Daniel Webster s Speech. 

say bounty, but policy ? These tribes, sir, that have 
preceded us, to whose lands we have succeeded, and 
who have no written memorials of their laws, their 
habits, and their manners, are all passing away to 
the world of forgetfulness. Their likeness, manners, 
and customs, are portrayed with more accuracy and 
truth in this collection by Catlin than in all the other 
drawings and representations on the face of the earth. 
Somebody in this country ought to possess this collec- 
tion — that is my opinion ; and I do not know who 
there is, or where there is to be found, any society or 
any individual, who, or which, can with so mucJi 
propriety possess himself or itself, of it, as the 
Government of the United States. For my part, 
then, I do think that the preservation of u Catlin's 
Indian Collection " in this country is an important 
public act. / t/iiuk it properly, belongs to those ac- 
cumulations of historical matters respecting our pre- 
decessors on this continent, which it is very proper for 
the government of the United States to maintain. 
As I have said, this race is going into forgetfulness. 
They track the continuation of mankind in the present 
age, and call recollection back to them. And here 
they are better exhibited, in my judgment, better set 
forth and presented to the mind, and the taste and 
the curiosity of mankind, than in all other collections 
in the world. I go for this as an American subject — 
as a thing belonging to us — to our history — to 
the history of a race whose lauds we till, and over 



General Cass's Letter. 49 

whose obscure graves and bones we tread every day. 
I look tipon it as a thing more appropriate for us 
than the ascertaining of the South Pole, or a?iy thing 
that can be discovered in the Dead Sea or the River 
Jordan. These are the groimds, sir, upon which I 
propose to proceed, and I shall vote for the appropria- 
tion with great pleasure" 

The following letter also, which I received at that 
time, I have a right to introduce in this place : — 

Letter from General Cass, Secretary of 
State of the United States of America. 

" Dear Sir : No man can appreciate better than 
myself the admirable fidelity of your Indian Collec- 
tion and Indian book, which I have lately examined. 
They are equally spirited and accurate : they are true 

to nature. Things that are are not sacrificed, 

as they too often are by the painter ; to things as (in 
his judgment) they should be. 

" During eighteen years of my life I was super- 
intendent of Indian affairs in the north-western 
territory of the United States ; and during more 
than five I was Secretary of War, to which depart- 
ment belongs the general control of Indian concerns. 
I know the Indians thoroughly. I have spent many 
a month in their camps, council-houses, villages, and 
hunting grounds ; I have fought with them, and 
against them ; and I have negociated seventeen 



5° Jefferson Davis, Senator. 

treaties of peace or of cession with them. I mention 
these circumstances to show you that I have a good 
right to speak confidently upon the subject of your 
drawings. Among them I recognize many of my old 
acquaintances, and every w'Jiere I am struck with the 
vivid representations of them and tlieir customs, of 
their peculiar features, a7id of their costumes. Un- 
fortunately, they are recediiig before the advancing 
tide of our population, and are probably destined, at 
no distant day, wholly to disappear ; but your collec- 
tion will preserve them, as far as human art can. 
do, and will form the most perfect monument of an 
extinguished race that the world has ever seen. 

" To Geo. Catlin." " Lewis Cass. 

Mr. " Jefferson Davis/' at that time (previous to 
the Rebellion), a member of the Senate, before 
giving his vote, made, in a speech of two news- 
paper columns in length, and now matter of record, 
the most complimentary eulogy that has ever been 
passed on my works, stating that I was " the only 
artist who ever had painted, or could paint, an 
American Indian ; that he had been a campaigner 
with me for several months amongst the Osages, the 
Comanches, Pawnee Picts, &c, whilst he was an 
officer in the ist Regiment of mounted Dragoons, 
— that he had sat by me and seen me paint many 
of my portraits from the life, and knew their ac- 
curacy, that the collection was one of great interest 



Jefferson Davis, Senator, 5 1 

and value to our country, and that it would be a 
shame if it were sold in a foreign land." And 
yet, when the stage of the voting showed that his 
vote was to turn the scale, stated that, " from prin- 
ciple, he was bound to vote against the appropria- 
tion," which he did, and defeated the bill. 

This unexplained "principle" I construed to be 
clearly the principle adopted and proclaimed by 
President Jackson many years before, of removing 
all the southern tribes of Indians west of the Mis- 
sissippi River, that their two hundred and fifty 
millions of rich cotton lands might be covered with 
slave labourers ; and which principle, with an ac- 
companying hostility to everything Indian, had been 
and was being carried out by the successive ad- 
ministrations, convincing me that I had nothing 
further to expect or to claim from my country for 
the labours I had expended and the collections I 
had made in the Indian countries. 

This discouragement, and the explosion of my 
pecuniary affairs in London, came upon me to- 
gether, and both contributed to impede my return 
to my native country, which I had contemplated at 
that time ; and, as will be seen, to my subsequent 
wanderings, to be briefly narrated in the following- 
pages. In this dilemma I was lost ; but my collec- 
tion was saved to my country by an American 
gentleman, — an act so noble and so patriotic that I 
cannot believe my country will forget it 



5 2 Gold Hunting in 

My " occupation gone," and with no other means 
on earth than my hands and my brush, and less 
than half of a life, at best, before me, as with all 
that is human and mortal, my thoughts tended 
towards Dame Fortune, to know if there was there 
anything yet in store for me. The thought was an 
extremely unpromising and visionary one, and yet, 
without a superstition, seemed worthy of a trial. 

In this state of mind, therefore, into one of the 
eccentric adventures of my chequered life. I was 
easily led at that time, by the information got by a 
friend of mine, a reader in the Bibliotheque Im- 
periale of Paris, from an ancient Spanish work, 
relative to gold mines of marvellous richness, said 
to have been worked by Spanish miners some 300 
years since, in the Tumucumache (or Crystal) moun- 
tains, in the northern part of Brazil. 

According to this tradition the Spanish miners, 
after having accumulated great riches, were attacked 
by the Indians and massacred in their houses, or 
driven out of the country, leaving their gold behind 
them. This wonderful relation, with other cor- 
roborating legends I had received, had enough of 
probability (with the additional circumstances al- 
ready narrated) to excite my cupidity, and what 
follows is a brief account of my singular enterprise 
entered upon at that time. 

In my wandering contemplations, ten years, at least, 
of solitudes in voluntary exile, with my pencils and 



the Crystal Mountains. 53 

sketch-books, were before me as agreeable realities, 
Nuggets of gold of all sizes appeared in my dreams, 
and in my waking hours I had allowed a half super- 
stition to intimate to me that Dame Fortune might 
have something precious in store for me, and which 
she could not bestow without the suitable oppor- 
tunity. As traditions had said that the gold 
miners of the Crystal Mountains had accumulated 
vast amounts in gold dust and nuggets, imagination 
naturally and easily depicted these riches left be- 
hind, buried within the walls of their adobe houses 
when the miners were destroyed, or obliged to flee 
from their villages. 

The wealth of London was to be at my command 
if I succeeded ; a company, with unbounded capital 
was to be formed, and a concession was to be ob- 
tained from the government of Brazil for the right 
of working the mines and carting the gold away ; 
and I had yet the stimulus of an unexplored 
country before me. 

With such reflections and anticipations I started, 
in 1852 — fourteen years ago — for the Crystal Moun- 
tains, in Brazil. I sailed to Havannah ; from thence 
I went to Carraccas, in Venezuela, to see the won- 
derful "Silla," described by Baron de Humboldt 
From Carraccas to the Orinoco and Demerara, 
designing to ascend the Essequibo to the base of 
the Crystal Mountains. 

Learning from friends in Demerara the jealousy 



54 Sir Robert Skombergk. 

with which the unsettled boundary between British 
Guiana and Brazil was at that time guarded, and 
the consequent difficulty, if not impossibility, of 
passing the frontier post at the Grand Rapids of 
the Essequibo, I obtained a British passport for 
Brazil, and an incognito cognomen, as kings and 
emperors sometimes do, resolved to leave the river 
below the " Sabo " or great cataract, and approach 
the mountains by a land route, taking a guide and 
escort from some of the Arowak or Taruma villages 
I should have to pass through. 

Having previously met my old acquaintance, Sir 
Robert Shombergk, returning from his second ex- 
ploring expedition to the sources of the Essequibo, 
he also had explained to me the uncertainty of 
getting permission from the post-holder to pass the 
Grand Rapids, and also of the extreme difficulty of 
ascending the Essequibo from that to the moun- 
tains, owing to the numerous rapids, requiring a 
strong force of men He approved my plan of 
taking the eastern route ; and having learned from 
me the object I had in view, stated that he had long 
since heard legends of the Spanish gold mines in 
those mountains, and that were it not that he was 
at that time executing a special command of Her 
Majesty the Queen, he would have accompanied me 
in the enterprise. 

Joined in Georgetown by an enterprising young 
man by the name of Smyth, an Englishman, a good 



The Tumucamaches. 5 5 

shot, and carrying a first-rate minie rifle ; and, 
armed myself with Colt's revolving carabine, we left 
the Essequibo below the grand cataract, and after 
a desperate encounter with rivers and swamps, 
reached an Arowak village. Received in this vil- 
lage with great kindness (as has been described in 
the first volume), we procured hired horses and 
mules, on which, with an Indian guide, passing 
several Indian villages, and a country of three or 
four hundred miles, we reached the base of the 
mountains, and then, with a half-caste interpreter 
and guide, who knew the route, and a mule to carry 
our packs, we trusted to our legs for a passage 
across the mountains into the valley of the Amazon, 
which we accomplished, but with great fatigue and 
some distress, to the forks of the Trombutas, from 
which we descended in an Indian pirogue to the 
Amazon, to Santarem, and to Para, as has been 
more fully narrated in the first volume of this work. 
Instead of finding the Tumucamache (or Acarai) 
a single mountain ridge, which I had contemplated, 
we found ourselves in the midst of a series of moun- 
tains of palaeozoic rocks of the most frowning and 
defying aspect for a breadth of fifty or sixty miles. 
In the midst of these our poor mule gave out, and 
we were obliged to leave it and most of our packs, 
and trust to our weapons for subsistence. Food 
and life and progress now became subjects of more 
importance than gold ; and in our jaded and ex- 



5 6 Gold H tinting in 

hausted condition we were but miserable nueeet 
hunters. We /united, however, passing over exten- 
sive beds of auriferous quartz, and in some instances 
distinctly exhibiting to the naked eye the precious 
metal. 

In a beautiful valley amongst the mountain 
ranges we struck upon an ancient waggon-road, 
which we followed for several miles, intelligible 
proofs of mining operations. This, however, we 
lost, from the thick overgrowth of a sort of thorn, 
not unlike a compact hedge, extending in some 
places for miles together, and entirely impenetrable 
to man or horse, until cut away. 

From such causes all my nugget fever for the 
time passed away, and I was happy to be again at 
my old vocation, and safe and sound in the valley 
of the Amazon. 

Near the close of the first volume, I gave some 
account of the valley of the Amazon, its rivers, its 
forests, and inhabitants ; but, for want of space, was 
obliged to make it brief and very incomplete. Other 
features of it, which I was then obliged to pass by, 
will now be taken up, and the end of this chapter 
will bring us to the Pacific, where we will have a 
new region to pass into. 

In my boarding-house in Para I made the agree- 
able acquaintance of Senor L , to whom I gave 

a description of my long voyage, and the object I 
had had in crossing the Crystal Mountains. He told 



the Crystal Mountains. 57 

me he had long heard traditions of those gold mines, 
and the massacre of the miners by the Indians ; and 
he added that he had no doubt of the facts, nor any 
doubt but that great wealth had been left concealed 
in or about the miners' adobe houses. 

He informed me that he lived on an island in the 
Amazon, some hundreds of miles above Santarem, 
which he had stocked with several thousand head 
of cattle and horses ; that he was returning by 
steamer in a few days ; and that if I would accom- 
pany him, he would fit out another expedition at 
his own house, and at his expense, approaching the 
mountains from a different direction, and in a dif- 
ferent place ; and, he thought, with a better chance 
of success. 

I accepted this gentleman's kind offer, and in 
three days we were prepared for our coming cam- 
paign. At Para we obtained each a tunique and 
leggings of strong buckskin, and other articles neces- 
sary for our tour, and various trinkets and other 
presents for the Indians. 

I had at the time in my employment a first-rate 
negro man (a maroon), six feet and two inches in 
height, " Ccesar Bolla" who had freed himself from 
bondage by leaving his master, Senor Bolla, in 
Havannah, and had proved to me his value in a 
tour of five or six weeks which we had just made 
together amongst the Xingu Indians, on the river 
by that name. 



5 8 Gold Hunting in 

My former companion, Smyth, having left me in 
Para, I purchased of him his minie rifle, which I 
had put into Caesar's hands, and of which he was 
very proud. 

Senor L proposed to take two of his own 

negroes, and employ a couple of friendly Indians 
living in the vicinity of his residence, as guides and 
interpreters, making in all a party of seven. 

This hospitable gentleman had on his island ten 
thousand cattle and horses, and fifteen negroes. He 
told me before starting, that, as we were going into 
a section of country known to be rich in minerals, 
and guarded with great jealousy by the Govern- 
ment, we should be more or less liable to fall into 
the hands of one of three garrisons of bare-footed 
soldiers, stationed at the Barra and at the base of 
the mountains ; and that in such an event he should 
much rather answer to the name of Senor Novello 

than that of Senor L . 

His motive for this he knew I could correctly 
appreciate when I showed him my passport, and at 
the same time told him my real name, with which 
(when he heard it) he said he had been for some 
years familiar. He spoke the Portugais, the Spanish, 
and the " lingua geral " (the language of the country),' 
and Caesar spoke the Spanish and the English, and 
our two Indian guides spoke the "geral," and the 
Indian language of the tribes where we were going ; 
so that on the score of languages we had nothing 
to fear. 



the Crystal M oun tains, 5 9 

The route proposed was to descend the Amazon 
some fifteen or twenty miles in a huge and unwieldy 
pirogue ; then ascend a small and sluggish stream 
some twenty or thirty miles, leave the pirogue, and 
traverse the vast and gloomy forest until we reached 
the llanos (prairies), where we would hire mules of 
the Indians to take us to the mountains. 

We were several days making the necessary 
preparations ; laying in salt and dried meats, coffee, 
sugar, biscuits, tea, salt, &c, and a few culinary 
articles ; and amongst them a large tin pan from his 
wife's pantry, for washing gold, and a heavy hammer 
for breaking the rocks, and a cold chisel for cutting 
the nuggets which we might find, too large to be 
transported entire ! 

Embarked in our heavy pirogue, with all our stores 
and equipments laid in, we were venturing on a 
tour which probably no white man had ever made 
before (and of which we had no knowledge except 
that obtained from our two Indians, who had 
traversed it several times before), of wading, of 
creeping and crawling, through the vast and sunless 
and pathless solitudes which lie between the Amazon 
and the llanos that spread out at the foot of the Tu- 
mucamache, or Crystal Mountains. And those who 
would appreciate the grandeur, the vastness, the 
intricacy, and the mysteries of the Amazon forests 
without seeing them, now listen !— 
.Gently and easily we floated down the northern 



6o An Amazon River. 

shore of the river for the distance of fifteen or 
twenty miles ; most of the way, the banks, the 
shore, and the trunks of the lofty trees were entirely 
Hidden by the outrolling and outstretching masses 
of foliage of various hues and various patterns, 
which seemed to be tumbling over our heads into 
the river. 

Without discovering the least appearance of a 
landing-place, or mouth of a river or stream " Ya 
ka, ya-ka" (there it is, there it is), cried out 'one of 
our Indians, and pointing to it, when our pirogue 
was steered about, and plunged by force of paddles 
amidst the hanging boughs that were dipping in the 
water. In a moment we were out of sight of the 
mighty Amazon, and ascending a deep and sWrfsh 
stream of unknown width, for the hanging folLe 
was everywhere bathing in the stream, and hiding 
the muddy shores and the trunks of the trees from 
our view. 

A sort of " Lingua-gerar boat-song was now 
raised as the negroes were plying the paddles ; and 
the two Indians, in the bow, with their paddles were 
dividing and lifting the drooping boughs out of the 
water and passing them over our heads as the boat 
moved on. When raised, they were struck with the 
paddle, and most of their water discharged, but 
enough still filled the air, like a mist or a gentle 
shower of rain. 

The little Indians, with their entirely naked 



An Amazon River. 



61 



bodies, who were thus nicely and comfortably 
cooled, \vere laughing at our buckskins, in which 
we were completely drenched. 

The song progressed, the paddles were plied, and 
we still went on, whilst the artificial rain was falling, 
and the sun was shining. Night approached ; and 
we found a comfortable landing-shore, where our 
hammocks were slung, and between two tremendous 
fires we passed the night, amidst the howling of 
monkeys and hooting and screaming of nocturnal 
birds. 

The third day of this perpetual shower-bath 
brought us to the head of navigation of this little 
river without a name, where there were lying three 
other pirogues belonging to Indians, each one 
fastened to the shore with a thong of raw hide, and 
claimed by the owner's totem and the figure of a 
knife drawn on a piece of bark with blood-red 
paint and fastened to the raw hide thong. 

Here was a little spot of open timber, comfortable 
for an encampment, and we remained two days, 
arranging our packs, and preparing for our march 
through the forest, leaving our canoe for our return, 
labelled and claimed in the manner of those of the 
Indians ; and our Indian guides assured us that no 
Indians would ever remove it. 

Now our mighty task began. So far the pirogue 
had carried our " bags and baggage," but now we 
had to divide them amongst ourselves ; each one 



6 2 An Amazon Forest, 

carrying his load upon his back as he squeezed and 
crept through the mazy network of shrubbery and 
twisted vines. Our Indian guides professed to be 
"following a road;" but what a road! A road 
here, is where the Indians have with their knives 
cut away the vines and made an opening large 
enough for a man's body, as he stoops, to pals 
through: and this, in a few months or weeks, 
requires the same process repeated to make it pass- 
able again. 

Strapped upon Caesar s back was always my large 
portfolio, containing a large number of cartoon 
portraits of North American Indians, and blank- 
cartoons for other portraits to be made, protected 
by a waterproof covering. Over that was fastened the 
tin pan for gold washing. On his left shoulder his 
minie rifle, and in his right hand the sledge-hammer 
for getting at large nuggets, for which my cupidity 
was now, ror a second time, becoming roused. 

Senor X and myself carried our rifles, and 

each his knapsack of provisions, &c : and the other 
articles were divided amongst the two negroes and 
the two Indians, the two last of whom were armed with 
their sarbacaties (or blow-guns) with poisoned arrows. 

Thus freighted, and thus equipped, we started on 
our long and painful campaign, little knowing of, 
and little caring for, the toils and difficulties ahead 
oi us— those of an Amazon forest, and yet to be 
described. The earth, shrouded with an 



- r. r 



An Amazon Forest. 63 

impenetrable mass of green leaves, of twisting vines, 
and wild flowers of various hues, penetrated, where 
we walk, or stand, or creep, by the trunks of the 
stately moras, hackeas, and palms, and fifty other 
sorts of trees, but whose tops, and even branches, 
are lost in the chaotic mass of foliage that embraces 
them. 

Man wanders under and through these vast cano- 
pies without finding a log or a stone, or even the 
roots of a tree, to rest his wearied limbs upon. No 
tree, even in its natural decline, falls to the ground, 
but, like the masts of vessels with their cordage, they 
are held and braced up by twisting vines, whilst 
their decaying trunks are wasting away in the moist 
alluvion, and they gradually settle down (as they 
arose) to the earth from which they came. 

Xo stone has been dropped here from a drifting 
iceberg, or tumbled along in a mountain torrent, 
and the roots of trees, to be seen, must be dug for, 
so rapid is the accumulation of soil around them, 
that the trunks of trees have the shape of piles 
driven into the ground. 

Owing to the shade and perpetual dampness of 
those solitudes, fire never makes any progress, and 
the heaviest showers of rain generally fail to reach 
the ground, otherwise than in a light mist, or by 
creeping down the branches, trunks, and twisting 
vines by which it is broken and conducted. 

In the fresh air and sunshine at the tops of the 



6 4 



An Amazon Forest. 



trees, which we never can see, there is a busy and 
chattering neighbourhood of parrots and monkeys, 
but all below is a dark and silent matted solitude, 
in which a falling leaf, for want of wind, may be a 
month in reaching the ground, and where a man 
may be tracked by the broken cobwebs he leaves 
behind him. 

On, on we go, from day to day, in " Indian file," 
cutting our way, without the slightest change, en- 
camping at night between our fires, always serenaded 
by the frightful ariguatos (howling monkeys), whilst 
we are beating off the mosquitos, or shaving our 
legs to the knees with our knives to destroy the 
thousands of red ticks that fasten their heads in 
the skin. 

Our progress is slow, perhaps some ten or twelve 
miles per day. If man were but knee high, or, like 
a serpent, could crawl upon his belly, he might 
travel further. Not only are we impeded by the 
vines that are twisting about our necks and our 
legs, but the ground we walk on is painful and 
fatiguing owing to the vast quantity of leaves that 
fall, which have neither winds nor heavy rains to 
flatten them down, or fire to burn them. 

Nuts, and shells of nuts, are dropping on our 
heads, disengaged by monkeys and birds engaged in 
the tops of the trees, the chattering of which we con- 
stantly hear, though we don't see them. The falling 
nuts are lost to the eye when they reach the ground, 



An Amazon Forest. 65 

owing to the depth and looseness of the leaves 
amongst which they are hidden. The peccaries, in 
search of these, throw up the leaves around their 
sides until they are often nearly lost sight of, but the 
troupe thus engaged always keep sentinels on the 
look out, to give the alarm when an enemy is 
approaching. 

On the fifth day of our march, getting into a region 
a little elevated, and with more open timber, we 
passed a large gang of these little fellows busy in 
their furrows ; and a short time after, our little 
Indian "Bok-ar" announced that they had taken 
up the line of march, and were following us, and 
that we were in great danger unless we could reach 
a small stream that was a few miles a-head of us. 
At his request we relieved him of as much of his 
load as Ave could, and he went back to meet them, 
and keep them at bay by some sort of charm that 
he was master of, and which I did not learn, the 
same, he told us, that the jaguar uses to decoy them 
up to a leaning tree or other place where he can 
pounce upon the fattest of the herd, and, with it, 
leap to a nook above their reach. 

About three or four o'clock in the afternoon we 
reached the anticipated stream, and forded it, the 
mud and water reaching to our waistbands. All 
hands safe over, we came to a halt, and laid our 
packs upon the ground, the Indians assuring us that 
our enemies would not enter the water for us. 

F 



66 Attacked by Peccaries. 

Our daring little Bok-ar was in full view, dancing 
backwards towards us, singing, and now and then 
squeaking like a young peccary, but staring at 
them as they were advancing in a solid phalanx 
upon him, chafing their tusks- and preparing for 
battle. 

Bok-ar waded the stream, and joined the party, 
whilst the band of nut-gatherers advanced to the 
edge of the stream, and in a body as thick as they 
could stand, little else being seen than their heads, 
with their noses pointed towards us. 

Thus they stood, chafing their ivory, the sound 
of which was like that in a marble yard when stone- 
cutters are chipping marble ; their eyes were blood- 
red with rage, and a white froth was dropping from 
their jowls. 

As near as I could judge, there were from five 
to six hundred of these bristly little warriors in the 
group, and the reader will easily imagine that so 
wild and savage a spectacle could not escape a 
place in my sketch-book. 

This done, we were resolving to give them a 
broadside with our rifles, when I saw the little 
Bok-ar slipping a poisoned arrow into his blow-gun. 
We lowered our rifles, and gave the two Indians a 
chance to exhibit the powers of their insignificant 
looking weapons. They seemed very proud of the 
compliment thus paid them, and smiled as they 
slipped the fatal knitting-needles into the slender 
reeds. 



An Amazon Forest, 67 
The distance across the stream was some twelve 
or fifteen yards. The little Bok-ar asked me which 
one he should hit, and I pointed to one of the 
largest, standing with its feet at the water's edge, 
and with its head elevated, exposing its breast and 
the veins of its neck. A sudden whiff! and the 
deadly missiles were off. 

Bok-ar s pig pitched forward into the mud, and 
never moved, the arrow having struck the jugular 
vein ; the other victim, shot in the side, wheeled 
about, and after reeling and staggering for two or 
three seconds, gave a squeak or two and fell, when 
a scene commenced that baffled all description. 
The sagacious group around the falling animal 
seemed to know that it was dying, when they pitched 
upon it, ripped and tore it, and tossed it in all direc- 
tions. 

I ordered Cssar to fire his minie rifle over their 
heads, when the whole group took fright and disap- 
peared in an instant, and we saw no more of them. 

The Indians waded the stream, and both reco- 
vered their arrows, and returned them to their 
quivers, and (as they told me) as ready and efficient 
for battle as if they had not been fired ! How won- 
derful this poison, and what can it be ? Some have 
thought it extracted from the rattlesnake's tooth, 
but that can't be, for the poison of a serpent's tooth 
produces immense swelling— the poisoned arrow's 
victim never swells at all. 



68 An Amazon Forest. 

In the first volume of this work I have given a 
fuller account of this wonderful weapon and its 
effects, from experiments I witnessed and made 
while amongst the Connibo Indians. When the 
Indian requires for such deadly effects but an almost 
imperceptible quantity of the poison on the point of 
his needle-arrow,, I would ask what awful havoc 
would be produced in war if an army or regiment 
of men were armed with the ancient bell-muzzled 
arquebuses charged with duck-shot that had been 
rolled in this liquid and dried, and driven by powder 
instead of the Indian's feeble breath ?— or if small 
field-pieces were charged with such missiles ? Xo 
surgeons would need to follow, no wounded would 
be left upon the field of battle, for where one drop 
of blood is drawn, death must ensue. 

A conique rifle-ball, charged at its point with this 
poison, entering the body of an ox, a tiger, or an 
elephant, would, in my opinion, produce death as 
instantaneous as the flash of a gun. 1 



1 Six or seven years after my adventures in that country, a 
correspondent in Para states in one of his letters :— " Since 
your visit to the Upper Amazon, several agents have been 
traversing the whole country, both on the Amazon and in 
Guiana, and buying up all the Indian poison, at any price, 
but for what purpose no person has been able to ascertain.' 
God forbid that it should be used for the advancement of 
civilization, for the Indians themselves have long since ceased 
to use it in Indian warfare.'*' 



An Amazon Forest. 69 

To proceed on our voyage. The surface of the 
country over which we were now passing was begin- 
ning evidently to rise, and after some five or six 
days' further march the forest became more open, 
its twisting vines and other impediments in a mea- 
sure disappeared, and its true grandeur and beauty 
more fully developed, showed us that we were on 
the divide between water-sheds, and that we were 
consequently approaching the llanos (prairies), which 
we should soon meet, pointing into the forest. 

Encouraged, we marched easier and further each 
day, and on the eleventh day from our start we be- 
held the opening to the prairie — the sun shining 
upon it, the smoke from a Zurumati village and the 
blue Acarai (or Crystal) Mountains in the distance. 
Our Indians soon found their acquaintances ; our 
views were made known to them, and we were re- 
ceived with hospitality and kindness. Caesar soon 
got my portfolio open in a suitable place, and began 
his usual lectures on the portraits of their "Red 
bredren" in North America, as he held them up one 
by one to their view. Great excitement and amuse- 
ment were produced by the pictures, but all were 
afraid to be painted when it was proposed, and no 
one would consent to the operation. 

The women had not yet come forward, and one 
of the chiefs very respectfully inquired if the women 
could be allowed to look at the portraits. He said 
he knew that the white men did not like to see 



jo A Beautiful Group. 

women naked, for he had been in some of the white 
men's large villages, and he saw that they kept 
their women all covered ; and if their women could 
be allowed to look at the portraits the next day, 
they should be dressed properly for the occasion. 

The next day about noon, some fifteen or twenty 
of them came, mostly young and unmarried girls. 
They had no clothing whatever on them, though 
their ordinary habit is to wear a sort of apron of 
skins or of bark, extending from the waist down 
nearly to the knees. 

On this occasion, to be, as they had proposed, in 
full dress, they had left off their aprons, and very cu- 
riously (and, indeed, in some cases very beautifully) 
painted their round and pretty limbs with vermilion 
and other bright colours, and ornamented their 
bodies and limbs with long and sweet-scented grass, 
parts of it plaited in beautiful* braids, forming kilts 
that extended from the waist to the knee. Braids of 
this grass also ornamented their ankles, their wrists, 
and their necks ; and wreaths of evergreen boughs 
tastefully arranged encircled their heads and waists, 
enlivened with orchids and other wild blossoms of 
the richest hues and odours, whilst their long and 
glossy black hair, which is generally kept in braids, 
was loosened and spread in beautiful waves over 
their naked breasts and shoulders. 

Gaiety, modesty, and pride were imprinted on 
every one of their faces, and evinced in all their 



Zurumati Indians. 71 

movements, which were natural and exceedingly 
graceful. And oh, that a photographic impression 
could have been taken of this singular and pretty 
group, which would have vanished like a flock of 
antelopes had I attempted to have made a sketch 
of it. Caesar was embarrassed, but with his Lingua 
Geral, which these Indians partially understood, he 
o-ot along- tolerablv well in showing them the 
pictures. 

With a dozen or two of knitting-needles for 
arrows to their blow-guns, and some other little 
presents, we easily engaged men with mules to con- 
vey us with our packs to the base of the mountains, 
a distance of forty or fifty miles ; and, if anything 
on the face of the earth could properly be called a 
paradise, it was the beautifully rolling prairies, with 
their copses and bunches of graceful leaning palms 
and palmettos, encircled with flowers of all colours, 
spotted here and there with herds of wild cattle and 
horses, and hedged in a hundred directions with the 
beautiful foliage bordering the rivulets and rivers 
wending their serpentine courses through them. 

We had no time or disposition for the chase, and 
the only gun fired in our course was fired by myself, 
and much to my regret. A wild cow, lying directly 
before me, shook her head and seemed to dispute 
the right of way with me. I raised my rifle and 
shot her dead; and, on approaching, found the 
poor creature had been watching over the body 



7 2 Crystal Mountains. 

of her calf, which had been some days dead, and, 
from its swollen condition, we supposed from the 
bite of a snake. 

In this ride we forded several streams, and, 
amongst them, the west fork of the Trombutas ; 
and, if the Indians informed us rightly, something 
like one hundred miles from its junction with the 
eastern branch, where I struck it six months before, 
as related in the first volume of this work. 

After two days' ride, the blue of the mountains 
became grey, and green as we were at their base. 
In some places, for many miles together, they were 
in perpendicular palisades, like shore cliffs of ancient 
seas, with higher mountains rising above and behind 
them ; and, at their base, sloping descents of clay, 
with gullies of great depth and a thousand curious 
forms winding down and blending with the 
prairies. 

With no instruments to determine our meridian 
or latitude, we supposed we were here directly under 
the equator, and something like two hundred miles 
north-east of the Barra, at the mouth of the Rio 
Negro. 

The " nugget fever" was now raging on us. Our 
Indian employes, with their mules and with our 
hammocks and other packs which we should not 
want, went back, as they were afraid of the Woy-a- 
way Indians in the mountains, and their mules being 
of no further service to us amongst the rocks, which 



A Beautiful Valley. 73 

we were obliged to scale on our own bones and 
muscles. 

A sad occurrence here embarrassed us very much, 
One of the mules, on the night before they left, had, 
by accident, stepped its foot into our "tin pan," our 
only gold-washer, and completely broke its bottom 
through, and rendering it irreparably useless, and 
narrowing our " golden" prospects to the chances 
there might be of nuggets alone. 

Gates were here and there opening into these 
mountain escarpments, into one of which we en- 
tered, and found ourselves in one of the most 
beautiful valleys in the world, surrounded by high 
ridges on the north, the east, and the west, the 
slopes of which were beautifully ornamented with 
vines, and with natural orchards of orange and fig 
trees, bending down with their fruit. 

Here we established our head-quarters, building 
a sort of cabin with rocks and covering it with palm 
leaves. This valley, of some six or eight miles in 
length, and varying from two to three in breadth, 
was filled with boulders of granite, and gneiss, and 
quartz, not transported by icebergs from foreign 
sources, but descended from the mountain slopes 
around it, and which were consequently an unerring 
index to the minerals of the beds from which they 
came. 

Several days were spent amongst these by Senor 
X and myself, but with no success. A few 



74 Gold Hunting in 

days' rest, and our next expedition was to strike 
for the ancient road which I had before discovered 
and crossed, or to meet the Woy-a-way or other 
Indians of the mountains, from whom we might 
obtain some information of the ancient mines and 
the remains of the adobe houses to which I have 
before alluded. 

For this, leaving in Cache a part of our provisions 
to fall back upon in case of emergency, we started, 
with our knapsacks on our backs, in a north-easterly 
direction. We scaled the rugged mountain behind 
us to get a glance at the country beyond it, but then 
a deep and desolate ravine succeeded, and beyond 
that another mountain range of greater height than 
the one we had ascended. We gained the summit 
of this, and then beheld the field for all our labours 
spread out before us. 

Not a "crystal mountain," but a succession of 
mountains — hills peeping o'er "hills — and Alps on 
Alps arising," until they were blue and lost in the 
distance. Their summits were capped, not with 
snow, but some with naked granite, and others with 
grass and rhododendrons, their sloping sides and 
deep ravines seeming to sink down, down, far below 
the earth's surface, were covered with evergreen 
thickets that tried the nerves of the boldest and 
bravest who undertook to penetrate them. 

In this pictured landscape, long and broad valleys 
were seen, and lakes reflecting the white Equatorial 



the Crystal Mountains. 75 

sky that was over them ; and glistening waterfalls 
and cascades were seen in various directions : but not 
the smoke of an Indian's wigwam could be dis- 
covered with the most patient telescopic examina- 
tion. How desolate ! and yet how beautiful ! 

We kept on our course for several days, crossing 
ravine and ravine, and mountain and mountain, 
having nothing but a pocket-compass and mountain 
landmarks to guide us. As the naked rocks were 
chiefly granite and gneiss, and the others covered 
with impenetrable vegetation, and our means of 
washing in the earthy deposits were gone, our only 
remaining chances for discoveries were in the beds 
of the deep ravines, where the rocks descended from 
the mountain sides were exposed and washed by 
the running streams. 

Many of these streams we traced for long dis- 
tances with various success. One of these, a large 
and dashing stream— its course, where we struck it, 
from east to west, and probably one of the sources 
of the Essequibo— presented us many huge blocks 
of a greyish rose-coloured quartz, containing fre- 
quent speculae of gold, easily apparent to the naked 

e y e - 

These blocks were undoubtedly from a vein ot 
quartz in the slope of the mountain above, but 
which we were too feeble to uncover, or even to get 
sight of. 

In one of these blocks of several hundred tons 



7* 



vreiamt 



- : 2 stream. I dis revered 

a :r cm t.oe sire •:: a pin's head 



im iacrad: : " ah hands 



screwdrivers, 6::., - 
to work with the s 
an opening- into fu: 



In one of his tremendous swings, when all hones 
were high as if Dame Famine was -et 
the hammer slipped from its hand'e a~d -vim ~.-m 
inta the framing stream, dashing am -----t --m-^ 
below us ! Every possible search was made for its 
recovery, bet from the depth and maddening force 
of the water amongst the rocks, our efforts were in 
vain. Various smaller nuggets were afterwards 
secured with car lighter tads, .-md other- w--- 
picked op In the sands and gravel of the stream. 



The beds 



- ::n;r streams presented as 




e, and our su 



plies running" low, we swung 
ee days in desperate marches, 
-S cover tne " ancient read. ' :~ 



around for two or t 
in hopes still to re- 



to strike anon some 
but none of which 



Results of the Expedition. 77 

turned our faces again towards the valley of the 
Amazon, which we entered some forty or fifty miles 
from where we had left it. 

We reached our hidden stores in a few days in a 
starving condition ; after that the friendly Zuru- 
mati village, our pirogue, and at last the mighty 
Amazon, more ragged than Falstaffs men, and 
actually richer in gold than when we started, two 
months before, by just two ounces ! 

MORAL. — In this wise Dame Fortune's kind fa- 
vours were solicited ; and if she bestowed not upon 
me the visioned mines of gold, should I complain ? 
She has given me what is better — life, and health, 
and wisdom, and greatly added to my only wealth, 
my portfolios, to which she has long been a liberal 
and kind contributor. 



CHAPTER III. 



DESCENT OF THE YUCAYALL 

HE " gold fever " having thus been cured, 
and two weeks of delightful convalescence 
passed in the hospitable hacienda of 

Senor N , an ascending steamer 

snatched Caesar and myself, with scarcely a moment 
to shake hands, from this scene of enchantment to 
the " Barra," at the mouth of the Rio Negro ; from 
thence we went to Tabatinga, and to Nauta ; and 
after visiting the surrounding tribes, the Muras, the 
MaraJmas, the Yahuas, the Orejones, the Angus- 
turas, the Mayoroonas, the Iquitos, the Omaguas, 
the Ccocomas, the Ticunas, the ConnibQs, the Se- 
pibos, the Chetibos, and a dozen other " bps " and 
"guas" of the Yucayali and Upper Amazon, we 
crossed by the mail route, with many jovial and 
agreeable passengers, the rocks, the snows, the 
ravines, and the frightful dug-ways of the Andes, 
to Lima, where I took leave of my readers in my 




Descent of the Yucayali. 79 

first volume, and said I was in " the most beautiful 
city of the world." 

We have now a starting-point, and here this 
volume begins. But, before we proceed, let us halt 
a little ; the steamer is not ready to start. In the 
last chapter I was bringing up incidents passed by 
in the first volume, as I have said, for want of space 
to recite them ; and of the hundreds and thousands 
that are yet left, those of the shores of the Yucayali 
demand our attention yet for a few moments, and 
we will go back. 

After our ride on the Pampa del Sacramento, 
and our visit to the Connibos, where we saw them 
manufacturing the beautiful pottery described in 
the first volume, and where the facetious and trou- 
blesome old medicine-man contended that my 
painting of their portraits was " only an ingenious 
mode of getting their skins for museums." Caesar 
and I, with a faithful Indian canoeman,who knewthe 
river, and a young man by the name of Goiau, a Spa- 
niard, from one of the missions on the head waters 
of the Yucayali, and on his way to Para, started in 
a pirogue for Xauta, on the Amazon, near the 
mouth of the Yucayali, a distance of 300 miles. 

In our down-river voyage we went at a rapid rate, 
and keeping in the middle of the current, to get 
greater speed, exposed us so constantly to the rays 
of the sun, that I became sick, and slinging my ham- 
mock on a high bank, and under a tremendous and 



8o Taming a Monkey. 

open forest, we remained for a week, with provi- 
sions enough, and a great variety of fish, taken 
whenever we required them. 

The crumbs of hard biscuit that I was in the 
habit of throwing to some monkeys from my ham- 
mock, while eating, seemed to be telegraphed in 
some mysterious way, for in a day or two the 
hordes of these begging and beseeching creatures 
became so numerous and so extorting, that we were 
somewhat alarmed, and were about to change our 
encampment ; but a circumstance, droll enough, at 
length afforded us relief. 

One of the animals, of tremendous size, and, in 
fact, the first one which had introduced himself to 
us, was in the habit of approaching a little and a 
little nearer every morning to my hammock, whilst 
I was taking my coffee, and receiving the bits of 
biscuit, dipped in coffee, which I was in the habit 
of tossing to him, became so jealous of the unin- 
vited flocks that were gathering around us, that he 
pitched upon the nearest of them, and from tree to 
tree leaped and bolted on to them, till the whole 
multitude fled and stood aghast at his bristled and 
frightful aspect! It was a complete "coup de 
singe!" — -z deroute — a victory, and he had for the 
rest of the time the ground to himself. 

I applauded him for his gallant services, and re- 
warded him by larger bits of biscuit, which he 
seemed perfectly to understand. His adversaries 



Taming a Monkey. Si 

were afterwards always more or less in sight, but in 
the distance ; and if anyone attempted to come 
nearer, the hair on his ugly face and on his back 
stood on end, the meaning of which they evidently 
understood ; and turning his face towards me, every 
hair was laid smoothly down ; and as he approached 
me, the motions of his mouth and his lips seemed 
as if he was talking, but in a language that had no 
sounds. 

This rational creature was present regularly at 
all of my meals, and particularly docile and agree- 
able in the morning, when his crumbs were dipped 
in coffee, and the sweeter the better. 

At every meal he ventured a little nearer, and 
got so at length as to reach up and catch the crumbs 
from my hand as I dropped them ; and at length, 
to be more familiar, and probably to feel more secure 
from Caesar, (as they were occasionally showing 
their teeth at each other), he took his position in the 
crotch of a little sapling tree to which the headrope 
of my hammock was fastened, and there, a little 
above, and within arm's reach of me, sat and took 
his crumbs from my hand, and evidently either as 
an expression of gratitude, or for the sugar on 
them, licked the ends of the fingers that gave 
them. 

Caesar and the other men, cooking and eating at 
a little distance, tried him in vain with food of 
various kinds ; and when Caesar even looked at him 

G 



82 Quarrel with a Monkey. 

he showed his teeth, and seemed to take it as an 
insult. I must say I felt somewhat vain of his ex- 
clusive attachment, and I believed (and I still be- 
lieve; that a few days more would have enabled me 
to have got the fellow into my arms, and a harmless 
bed-fellow in my hammock, but for an unfortunate 
occurrence that I could not explain to him, and 
which led to a different result. My dried biscuits 
eave out ; and as he neither ate fish nor meat, 

A +-""1 

mutuality of sympathy was at a stand stiii. 

I ottered him coffee,, but he knew not how to 
drink it, and tendering to him a piece of boiled 
meat, of which he smelied, the creature stepped 
backwards into the crotch of the tree, and looking 
me full in the face for a minute, without the move- 
ment of a muscle, made an instant spring upon me 
with all his force, breaking my hammock-rope, and 
falling with me to the ground, and with a horrid 
growl and a snap, bit me through the joint of my 
thumb on my right hand ; and in a leap or two, was 
among the trees and out of sight, with screams, and 
afterwards bowlings, so frightful and so horrible at 
every leap, that neither itself nor a monkey of any 
grade or caste showed itself again whilst we re- 
mained in our camp ! 

(How acceptable are kindnesses and caresses 
whilst they last ; and how disastrous they are apt 
to be when stopped.) 

My compagncns de i* or age, moved, I believe, by 



An Ant-eater. 83 

jealousy, rather than anything else, were very merry 
at the sudden termination of our growing intimacy, 
not knowing that I was suffering everything but lock- 
jaw itself, from the severed joint My Indian guide, 
who seemed to be somewhat of a medicine man, 
told me he had feared from day to day that our 
intimacy would come to that ; and tracing the 
river shore, he collected some herbs, of which he 
made and applied a poultice, which soon gave me 
relief. 

Our little camp seemed to be destined to the 
intrusions of inquisitive visitors, and the next morn- 
ing, whilst I lay dozing in my hammock, and Caesar 
was boiling the coffee and frying some fish and 
Senor Goyau and the Indian were fishing in the 
canoe, I was instantly alarmed by Caesar's vehement 
and startling exclamation, — 

" Well, de Lord o' massie ! wot you call dis, 
Massa Catlin?" 

I looked out, and he was startling back from the 
fire, where he had been sitting, with one hand on 
the ground, and holding his frying-pan in the other, 
whilst a huge ant-eater was advancing upon the 
other side of the fire, with its long nose almost in 
the embers. 

My rifle, which was hanging over my hammock, 
I took down, and shot the stupid beast through the 
heart. Poor Caesar, who never had been in museums, 
had never even imagined so curious a creature, was 



84 Descent of the Yucayali. 

agitated at first by fear ; but his nerves were still 
more convulsed after fear was over, by the inex- 
pressible drollness of this outlandish animal, which 
anyone may laugh half an hour at without an 
effort ; and as soon as he got his nerves in a condi- 
tion to express anything, he exclaimed — 

« Well now, affer dat, I wonder wat de Lord eber 
make nex !" 

I took the measure of this ugly, stupid, and 
harmless creature, and found its length, from the 
end of its nose to the end of its long, bushy tail, to 
be twelve feet ! 

After our encampment of a week we took to our 
canoe again, and after paddling a few hours, I was 
taken again excessively ill with vertigo and vomit- 
ing. We went ashore, and landed again in a noble 
forest, and were preparing our encampment, though 
in a thick undergrowth of grass and weeds. 

I was too helpless, from vertigo, to walk, and 
being assisted up the bank, had laid down on a mass 
of long grass and weeds, that bent down as I re- 
clined back upon them. Whilst in this position I 
was rendered doubly sick by a stench that was 
evidently rising from under me, and which I at 
first attributed to some noxious weeds that I had 
crushed. It became so bad, however, that I could 
bear it no longer, and I called Caesar to help me 
move to some other spot. 

Our Indian companion, seeing my distress, came 



The Indian and the Rattlesnake. 85 

with Caesar, and the moment he got over me he 
exclaimed,— " Biiccare-hul-be, buccare-hul-be /" "A 
rattlesnake, a rattlesnake!" They lifted me up, 
and by the direction of the Indians eyes and the 
expression of his face, I saw that he considered the 
snake which he smelled, but had not seen, was under 
the grass and weeds, and that I had been lying on it. 

I got seated on a bare piece of ground at a little 
distance, when the Indian, with his paddle lifted up 
the weeds, and showed me a huge rattlesnake that 
I had been lying on ! nearly suffocated, I suppose, 
from my weight, and of course ready for the most 
deadly battle, 

Caesar sprang for his rifle, and was going to shoot 
it, when the poor Indian threw himself forward, and 
in so imploring an attitude, begged for its life, that 
I told Caesar not to fire or to harm it, knowing the 
superstitions of most of the tribes of Indians, who 
never kill a rattlesnake, but, on the contrary, pay 
it a sort of devotion, lest their heels may be in 
danger from some of its surviving relations. 

This was new to Caesar, and when I had explained 
it to him, he exclaimed, — - 

"Well, I don't wonder ; dat berry good reason." 

Sefior Goyau, who was at this time overhauling 
some of his luggage in the canoe, and who under- 
stood the language of the Indian, learned from his 
excited remarks, and from seeing Caesar with his 
rifle in his arms, that something was wrong on shore, 
came running up the bank, and pitching down by 



86 Bitten by a Rattlesnake. 

the side of me, exclaimed, in Spanish and in 
Indian,—" I am bitten by a rattlesnake !" 

All got around him, and his half-boot, apparently 
of sheepskin, and reaching half-way to his knee, 
being taken off, the wounds by two fangs were 
easily perceptible in the lower part of the calf of his 
leg, but apparently in the fleshy part only, without 
striking a vein or artery. 

The Indian, in a moment, was flat upon his belly, 
and seizing the calf of the leg a few inches above 
and below the wounds, in both hands, as tight as 
he could possibly grip them, commenced sucking 
the wound, and spitting the blood from his mouth 
at short intervals. 

Between his two hands and around the wounds 
the flesh of the leg became the same colour, and 
bore the same marks as the skin of a rattlesnake 
itself; but after an operation of a quarter of an 
hour in this manner, without letting go with his 
hands, or ceasing his suctions, the flesh took again 
its natural colour, when the Indian let go of his 
patient, and triumphantly exclaimed, — 
« It is all done ; there is no more danger." 
Goyau seemed convinced of this, though I had 
still some fears. The snake that I had laid upon 
was still coiled and ready for battle, and emitting 
the most sickening odour imaginable. 

Goyau had not seen the snake that had struck 
him as he was rising the bank, nor had he the least 
disposition to go and look it up ; for I found that 



Descent of the YucayalL 87 

his superstition was the same as that of the Indian. 
And he told me that both he and the Indian knew 
from the smell that we were in the midst of a nest of 
these creatures, and the sooner we were off the 
better. 

Either from inhaling the poisonous effluvia arising 
from these reptiles, or from the excitement, my 
vertigo had at this time entirely left me, and I 
could walk as straight as ever ; and taking the 
Indian's paddle, and annoying the snake that I had 
laid on, and which was in no way disposed to re- 
treat, it began a most frightful shaking of its rattles, 
when we heard several others in the grass and weeds 
in different directions, answering it, which convinced 
all that we were in bad company, and that, as 
Goyau had said, "the sooner we were off the better." 
And not to wound any superstitious feeling, Csesar 
and I agr.eed (and possibly, on my part, in a mea- 
sure, from recollections of the wholesale murder at 
the " Rattlesnakes' Den ") to bruise no serpents' 
heads on this occasion. 

My disease seemed completely cured by this 
day's excitements, but poor Goyau was sick all the 
way to Nauta, and we left him sick there when the 
steamer took us from that place, though apparently 
not in any danger. 

Now we start. The field is new, and vast, and 
fresh, before us. Between Lima and San Francisco 
there are many Indians inhabiting the coast, but 



SS San Francisco. 

we cr 0 bv sea, and necessarily must leave them, at 
least till Ave come back. 

San Francisco is a highly civilized place, so we 
have little interest there. There are a plenty of 
books written about it. They are all for gold there, 
and I am shy of gold, having just recovered from it. 
Some straggling Apachee Indians come in there at 
times ; but we will probably see better specimens 
of them by-and-bye, on our return. We are now on 
our way to Oregon, the mouth of the Columbia. 
Our craft is small, and sails slow ; and when the 
sea is smooth, gives me a good chance to finish up 
my sketches, and to prepare my cartoons for others 
to be made. 

The schooner Sally Anne (she was built in New 
York) doubled Cape Horn in 1843, and is now sailed 
by Senor Pedro Pasto, a Spaniard, who goes once 
a year to Astoria, to Victoria, to Queen Charlotte s, 
to the Alaeutian Islands, and to Kamskatka, and 
returns with sheepskins, wool, dried fish, and other 
products of those countries. 

J. Paulding, of New York, L. Simms, of Missouri, 
J. Stevens, of Ohio, then living in San Francisco, 
(who had got an idea in their heads that nuggets of 
gold were larger on the Columbia coast, and per- 
haps in the Alaeutian Islands), and I (who was quite 
sure that Indian portraits in any quantity could be 
got there), agreed to pay to Captain Pasto 200 
dollars each to take us safe to Queen Charlotte's 
Island — to Liska, on the Alaeutian Islands— and to 



A 11 "U\ nder standing. " 89 

Kamskatka, and back to Victoria, on Vancouver's 
Island (my man Csesar to be carried free, but a ser- 
vant to all, when required). And did Captain Pasto 
do it, and what did we find, and what did we see ? 

Before we enter further upon this, it will be well 
for the reader to understand upon what conditions 
we sallied forth on the broad ocean for so long 
and so critical a voyage. An " understanding " (as 
agreements are called in that country) was definitely 
agreed to, and an off-hand article for all to sign 
was drawn up in the following form and words, by 
Simms, whose extraordinary tact and dispatch in 
draughting contracts and other documents of those 
countries, to be executed by revolvers and bowie- 
knives, if not otherwise, will be visible on the face 
of it. 

" Understanding. 
" Agreed — the Sally Anne, Captain Pasto, bound 
for Nishnee Kamskatk, to take us 4, and found, 
w r hole way and back to Queen Charlotte's Sound 
and Victoria, at 200 dols. each, one half down ; salt 
pork and beans to last ; owner's risque ; and Catlin's 
nigger to go free." 

" (Signed) " J. Paulding. 

" V. Simms. 
" J. Stevens. 
" Geo. Catlin. 

" Pedro Pasto, Capt. Sally Anne." 



Each contracting party, armed with a copy of the 



go An "Understanding!' 

above " agreement,'' a six-shot revolver, a rifle, and 
a bowie-knife in the belt, in a country where there 
are no courts of justice, or even magistrates, feels 
abundantly able to defend his rights, and to enforce 
the performance of all engagements so solemnly 
and definitely undertaken as this. 

These documents pocketed (which, by the way, 
were not rights, but only indications of rights), we 
move on; all is jocularity, mutual confidence, and 
good fellowship, or sure to be so, at least, in the outstart. 

A long voyage, with no other absolute misfortunes 
than the total exhaustion of all our " salt pork and 
beans,'' and alarming symptoms of scurvey, brought 
our little bark to the mouth of the Columbia, with 
the safe harbour of Astoria close before us. Here, 
however, when the dangers of the sea seemed over, 
our difficulties began. 

Captain Pedro Pasto (for the owner was captain 
of his own craft), about to glide from the rough 
waves of the ocean into the smooth waters of the 
Columbia, ran his ship upon the bar — her bow in 
the sand, and the waves dashing against her stern, 
and driving her farther on, as the tide was rising. 

Night approaching, our position was critical ; but 
morning showed us, at full tide, driven quite over 
the bar, and at anchor in the quiet water of the 
river, with loss of rudder only, 

Captain Pasto, with Paulding and Stevens, in a 
small craft, went up the river to Astoria for ship- 
carpenters to make repairs, and to replenish the 



Mouth of Columbia, 91 

exhausted requisite of " salt pork and beans/' and 
other provisions, and Simms and myself remained 
on board, 

At low tide the schooner laid upon her side on 
the sands, and Simms, with his hawk-eye, in walk- 
ing; around her, discovered that the name of the 
vessel, the Santa (I forget what) de Callao, in large 
yellow-ochre letters, was chiefly all washed off by 
the force of the driving waves against her stern, 
and the remainder of them peeling off under the 
rays of the sun, and underneath them, covered with 
a thin coat of paint, the " Sally Anne, of N. York" 
was quite conspicuous. 

I opened my paint-box, and with a brush, and a 
tube of yellow chrome spread upon my palette, I 
touched the letters up a little. 

When the captain returned, the vessel was afloat, 
and Simms, taking him around astern in the yawl, 
said to him, " Look there ! by the eternal, sir, I can 
disfranchise you, when we get back, for changing 
the name of your vessel when at sea. It is a very 
grave offence." 

Getting on deck, Simms said, " We have no idea, 
captain, that you stole the vessel, and Sally Anne 
being a favourite Yankee name of ours, we shall 
christen her so, for this voyage at least, and you 
bringing out a couple of bottles of wine for the 
occasion, we will agree to say nothing about it." 

With his wine, the good-natured captain brought 
on to the table his papers, showing that he bought 



92 Nootka Sound. 

his schooner of a couple of Americans in the port 
of Callao ; and it was at this moment that the 
famous "understanding" on the previous page was 
first reduced to writing and signed. 

A few days making the necessary repairs, and 
we sailed out, all in good humour, passing outside 
of Vancouver, and coasting along its western shore 
of huge rocks and pine-covered mountains, towards 
Queen Charlotte's Sound, the grand anticipated 
field for the gold-hunters, and also for the opera- 
tions of my brush. 

Nootka Sound took us up. A strong north-west 
wind, increasing to a gale, held our schooner three 
days wind-bound in this snug and quiet little 
shelter, with the picturesque island of Nootka on 
one side of us, and the dark green pine forests and 
overtowering black piles of upheaved rocks, and 
blue, and then snow-covered mountain peaks of 
Vancouver, on the other. 

Nothing ever surprised me more than the infor- 
mation I here got, and demonstrated to my eyes, 
that mountains covered with perpetual snows were 
standing in the island of Vancouver ! And nothing 
that I ever before heard, or ever should have heard, 
would have conveyed to me an adequate idea of the 
singular appearance (and beauty, I may say) of its 
vast and ever-changing (in form, but not in colour) 
hills, and mountains, and ravines, not only clothed, 
but robed, and mantled, and belted, with dark green 
and gloomy pines and cedars, throwing out their 



Klah-o-quat Indians. 93 

long and drooping arms over rocks and streams, 
and even over the waves of the ocean. 

The first day that we laid here we had amuse- 
ment enough on deck of our little vessel in studying 
the scenery around us, and the darting (and seem- 
ingly leaping) canoes that were passing around, and 
the Klah-o-qitat Indians, and their wives and little 
pappooses, that we invited on board. 

A remarkably fine looking man, whom I supposed, 
from his appearance, was a chief; with his wife, 
carrying her infant in its cradle on her back, and 
their daughter, came on board, after getting per- 
mission, for which he was asking by smiles and 
intelligible signs. His manner was that of an in- 
telligent man and a gentleman ; and when he raised 
his hand and presented its palm towards the throng 
that was endeavouring to follow him, I was con- 
vinced that he was a chief, and was going to use his 
authority to protect us from an uncomfortable crowd 
on deck. 

It was but half an hours sail from here to the 
place where the " Tonquhi" John Jacob Aster's 
brig, was destroyed, some years before, by the 
Indians, and the crew destroyed, and Captain Pasto 
began to feel fears for ourselves and his vessel. The 
chief seemed evidently to be aware of this from the 
captain's manner, and leading his wife and daughter 
up to me, easily explained by signs that he would 
leave them with me until he would go in his canoe 



94 Nootka Sound. 

and bring some one who could talk with me. And 
I said to Caesar, — 

" This is a fine old fellow ; jump into his canoe 
with him, and take the wife's paddle, and help him ; 
and if he runs away with you, I will hold on to his 
wife and daughter, and easily get you exchanged 
after a while." 

" Agreed, massa ! I no fea !" 

They paddled off rapidly, and soon turned round 
a point and were out of sight. And in half an 
hour they came back, with a brigade of canoes fol- 
lowing them, and bringing with them an intelligent 
mulatto boy, who spoke English very well, and also 
the Klah-o-quat, and several other Indian languages 
of the coast. 

This young man told me that he swam ashore 
there from a whaling vessel, two years before, be- 
cause they flogged him too much, and was now 
making his living by interpreting for the Indians, 
and for vessels coming into the Sound ; and that he 
lived most of the time in one of the Indian villages ; 
and that the Indian who had come for him was the 
chief, and a very good man. 

Then, said I, the first thing I wish you to tell 
him is, that I knew by his actions that he was a 
chief, and by the expression of his face, that he was 
a good man. And tell him that I am very much 
obliged to him for going in search of you. This 
being interpreted, a hearty shake of the hand took 
place all around. 



Klah-o-quat Indians, 95 

My three gold-seeking companions, who had rather 
shunned him at first, now came forward, and shook 
hands with him also, and Simms went to his luggage, 
and brought and gave to him a bundle of about a 
dozen cigars. The chief was so pleased with the pre- 
sent, that he seized hold of Simms, and embraced him 
in his arms. " Well, by G — , Catlin," said Simms, 
" that's a very fine old fellow — that man is a gentle- 
man! Fd trust myself anywhere with that man !'' 

Always carrying with me a quantity of little 
trinkets and ornaments for the Indians, on such 
occasions, I went to my trunk and got a handsome 
string of blue and white beads, which I placed on 
his daughter's neck ; and a little looking-glass, which 
I gave to his wife in return for his kindness in go- 
ing for the interpreter. This explained to the chief 
we were all friends, and under a sudden and toler- 
ably good understanding. 

There were at this time a great number of canoes 
from the Vancouver shore around the vessel, and 
the crowds that were in them were generally a poor- 
looking set — poor-looking as to clothing, weapons, 
&c, but at the same time with faces full of spright- 
liness and intelligence. A great proportion of the 
women had their heads flattened ; and occasionally 
a man was seen with a flattened head, but very 
seldom. 

They were beckoning and whining, and some of 
them were crying to be allowed to come on board ; 



g6 Nootka Sound. 

but the chief, by showing them the palm of his 
hand, quieted them, and kept them back. I told 
the interpreter to say to him, that if there were any 
whom he would like to indulge by permitting them 
to come on board, he could do so, as the captain of 
the vessel had agreed to it. 

He then called to several whom he thought 
deserved the privilege, and they came on board, 
and amongst those there came several with baskets 
of dried salmon, whale blubber, and oysters, to 
barter, and the captain and mate at once had 
something to do in replenishing our larder. 

The interpreter I engaged to be with us as long 
as we should remain in the harbour, and he agreed 
to take us the next day to the Klah-o-quat village, 
where the chief had invited us to go. 

Leaving Csesar to amuse the Indians on deck 
and in their canoes around the vessel, I got the 
chief, with his wife and daughter, and the in- 
terpreter, below, and as each of us compagnons de 
voyage had laid in at San Francisco a certain num- 
ber of bottles of cogniac brandy for emergencies, 
I uncorked one of these on this especial occasion. 
I explained to the chief that we were all temperate 
men, but that we carried a few bottles for medicine 
if we get sick, and, once in a while, to those whom 
we loved, not to make them drunk, but to give them 
a pleasant drink, as a mark of respect. 

He replied, through the interpreter, that he per- 



Klah-o-quats. 97 

fectly understood my meaning, and, taking up his 
glass, took me by the hand, and bowing his head, 
" My friend, I drink your love." This was a little 
different from the usual form of salutation ; but what 
could be better ? more expressive ? Simms, whose 
heart was always ready for anything from the heart, 
was quite touched at this, and swore it was some- 
thing " new, and ten times better than the old and 
hackneyed and worn-out expression." 

I learned from this intelligent man, to my great 
surprise, that there were about twenty different 
tribes of Indians on the island of Vancouver, and 
containing some six or seven thousand persons, 
though, after all, they are but different bands of the 
great flat-head tribe, and speaking languages, though 
dialectic, oftentimes almost entirely different. 

The greater portion of these practise the abomin- 
able custom of flattening the head, which will be 
described anon. 

" On that western coast of Vancouver," the chief 
continued, " besides the Klah-o-quats, there are the 
To-quahts living in Barclay Sound, further south ; 
and several other tribes living on the coast between 
Nootka Island, and Cape Scott, the northern cape 
of Vancouver— that they all believe in a Great Spirit, 
who created them and all things, and that they all have 
times and places when and where they pray to that 
Spirit, that He may not be angry with them. That 
they live chiefly on fish of various sorts, salmon, 

H 



93 Nootka Sound. 

halibut, blubber of whales, oysters, clams, &c, which 
they can always get in abundance ; and that they 
had but one fear, that was that ' King George,' as 
they had been told, was soon going to drive them all 
from the coast into the mountains and rocks, and 
in that case," he said " they would all get sick, and 
soon starve to death." 

I told him " King George " had long been dead, 
and that there was a queen in England, who was 
kind-hearted and good, and I knew she never would 
allow her Red children to be treated so cruelly; 
which seemed to please him very much ; and his 
wife, hearing it translated, cried out in a most ex- 
pressive tone, "la — la — la — a," (good, good, good). 

After the chief had drunk about half of his wine- 
glass of brandy, and which he told me he never 
had tasted before (though he had sometimes drunk 
whisky), I took a large glass, and with brandy and 
water, and sugar, made a " brandy toddy," which 
he said lie liked much better, and which I got him 
to share with the old lady, and her daughter. All 
were delighted with it, and after that I opened my 
portfolio of cartoon portraits of Indians. These 
surprised and amused them very much, and after 
an hour or so the interpreter took canoe with them, 
and paddled towards their village, as night was 
approaching, the interpreter having promised to 
come on board the next morning, and conduct 
Caesar and me to their village. 



A ~Dug-out" 99 

The next morning, if we were still wind-bound, 
the captain had promised me the use of the yawl ; 
but at the hour appointed, the chief himself came 
with the interpreter, paddling his own canoe, which 
was a compliment that I could not decline ; and 
Caesar and I got into it, taking the portfolio and my 
sketching apparatus, and leaving my gold-hunting 
companions at cards with Captain Pasto, and the 
gale outside of the Sound still blowing. 

The canoe — the canoe of the chief, in which we 
were riding — -floating, not flying, though it seemed 
so. A shell y apparently as thin and as light as bark, 
and made from the trunk of a huge cedar — a "'dug- 
out" — yes, strictly a dug-out. And I must tell you 
hoiu it was dug out. Large enough and strong 
enough to carry thirty men, yet its sides so thin and 
light that the paddles of two men, with us four in 
it, sent it like a bird flying through the air. The 
gala-boat, the gondola, the water-phaeton of a 
nobleman, kept dry except on fete days, saluted by 
the multitude when it passed, and a beautiful orna- 
ment for a palace park, or a royal museum. 

" Du^-out," I have said ; but how ? not from the 
patriarchal cedar as it stands in the forest, on the 
mountain's side — it must lie prostrate on the ground 
for that ; it must be "chopped down," But how? 
These people have no axes ! Listen, and say if 
there is not industry and tact in this ? Wapiti, a 
noble animal and shy, with immense horns, feeds 



ioo Making a Canoe. 

under those stately cedars on the mountain sides ; 
they must be brought down to bring the cedar 
down. And how ? not with rifles (these people 
know nothing of gunpowder and of rifles; but by 
motive power sineivy — not explosive. Missiles are 
designed and shaped in wood, made light and 
steered in the air by feathers on their sides, and 
their points of flint or bone — one about as good as 
the other, Bows are made to throw them, and 
strained by sinews, not by gunpowder. The stately 
elk (or wapiti) falls before them. His horns — the 
broadest, hardest parts — are cut with knives and 
hatchets of flint into the form of chisels. With 
these chisels in the left hand, and a heavy mallet 
made of a stone encompassed in a withe for its 
handle, the axe-men and axe-women, on their 
knees, set to with "hammer and chisel" at the 
trunks of these stupendous trees ; and doomed, they 
are cut near to the centre, and left ; and, when the 
wind is in the right direction to lay them on the 
ground best suited for their excavation, a few blows 
with the hammer and chisel send them tumbling to 
the ground. 

The monster tree is down ! What next ? Why, 
a hundred labourers, both men and women, with 
the same tools and others, mount upon it, and work 
at the same time. The bark is stripped oft", and the 
work laid out and marked by master workmen, and 
all— even women and children — dig,, and cut, and 
drill to the lines marked out, and no further. 



Making a Canoe. 101 

For digging out, a species of mussel-shell of a 
large size, found in the various inlets where fresh 
and salt water meet, are sharpened at the edge and 
set in withes of tough wood, forming a sort of adze, 
which is used with one hand or both, according to 
its size, and the flying chips show the facility with 
which the excavation is made in the soft and yield- 
ing cedar, no doubt designed and made for infant 
man to work and ride in. 

But, felled and dug out, this is but brute force and 
industry. The beaver can do this, and all Indians ; 
but the architect, the naval constructor who con- 
ceives in the log and lays out those beautiful lines 
that are to balance and ease it through the water 
• — those "lines of beauty" — -what artist ? Where did 
he get his art ? And where is he ? Is he gone ? 
He can't be a savage. And the soft, and smooth, 
and polished finish, outside and in, how done? And 
the painter — the artist who designed and drew those 
ornamental lines and figures on its sides, its bow, and 
its stern ; and for what, and what do they mean ? 
Maybe we shall find out. 1 At present we get in 
and we ride ; and a chief who " drinks my love " 
paddles me to his house — his humble dwelling. 



1 This beautiful canoe was a present from a Nay as chief, 
of Queen Charlotte's Island, to the Klah-o-quat chief; though 
the interpreter informed me that, amongst the Klah-o-quats 
and the To-quahts, there were others of their own make, 
quite as handsome. 



102 



A T ooika Sound. 



Vv hat is it ? It is a shed made of heavy posts stand- 
ing in the ground, with long and immense timbers 
resting on their tops, and covered with planks for a 
roof. Its floor is the ground ; trodden and swept, 
it becomes hard, and dry, and polished. The fire- 
place is a circular enclosure of stones in the centre, 
and the chimney the raising of a short plank in the 
roof directly over it. Their food is served and eaten 
on the floor, and their beds — without feathers — cribs 
eighteen inches above the ground, made of small 
elastic poles and covered with rush mats ; and 
pillows made of a solid block of wood excavated so 
as to receive the head, with soft matting underneath ; 
the best sleeping contrivance ever yet invented, as 
it holds the head elevated and inclined forward, and 
keeps a man, in his sleep, always on his back, as he 
ought to be. 

This chief, not like the chiefs of the Crows, the 
Sioux, or Mandans, clad in skins fringed with scalp- 
locks and ermine, with painted robes of buffalo 
skins, and headdresses of war-eagles' quills — but 
with a simple breech-cloth around his waist, and a 
blanket over his shoulders, his hair parted on his 
forehead and falling over his shoulders without or- 
nament. He is quite their equal in war or in coun- 
cils, and no less the gentleman. 

What evidence of this ? In his hospitable wig- 
wam, where he had invited me, he had assembled the 
worthiest of his tribe who were at the time near 



An Indian Reception. 103 

him ; and when I entered he brought them to me 
one by one and presented them, not according to 
ribands, or medals, or other decorations, for they 
have none ; but according to their rank for honour- 
able deeds, which he explained to me as he intro- 
duced them. What could be more gentlemanly 
than this ? And he gave us a humble feast. It 
was the best he had ; and, whilst we ate, he ate no- 
thing, but waited upon us as we were eating, and 
charged and lit the pipe for us to smoke when we 
had done. Humble and unpretending, but what 
could be more polite, more gentlemanly than this ? 
Is such a man, who has had none but nature to 
teach him, a brute ? 

He had invited a dozen or more of his friends to see 
me, and to see my portraits of Indians, which were 
now opened, to their astonishment and amusement 

The wigwam of this man was an immense thing, 
one hundred feet or more in length, and twenty-five 
feet in width, in several apartments, with inter- 
vening partitions of planks, lodging the different 
branches of his numerous family. 

As our time was to be very short, I set Csesar at 
work in a corner of the wigwam, amusing them with 
the portfolio, and the interpreter to explain, whilst I 
went to work upon a sketch of the chief and his 
wife and child, which I got tolerably well before 
night ; and just at the time when I had got about 
through, an instant excitement arose, which I was 



104 " ^ Whale Ashore." 

at a loss to understand, and which I must say, for 
a few seconds, gave me a degree of alarm, accus- 
tomed as I have been to Indian modes. I heard 
the shouts first in the village, at a distance, and the 
next moment bursting forth from the whole multi- 
tude in the house and around it. All sprang upon 
their feet ; some leaped in the air, and others 
clapped their hands and danced, and I then in- 
stantly saw, by the expressions of their faces, that 
it was a jubilee rather than an alarm ; that there 
was no bad news, for even 7 face, even in its asto- 
nishment, teemed with joy, and vociferated and 
echoed in all parts (though in Indian), "A whale 
ashore! a whale ashore!'' The interpreter ran to 
me, and echoed again, "A whale ashore!' 5 News 
had just arrived that the north-west gale had 
landed a sperm-whale on the sands, near the en- 
trance of " Hope Canal;" at the head of Xootka 
Island. 

Here was a " Godsend" for these poor people, 
and every throat was stretched with " A whale 
ashore! a whale ashore!" and all was " helter- 
skelter." The wigwams were all emptied, for " out- 
doors " was a larger and freer space for the circula- 
tion of the mutual expressions of joy that rang 
from ever) r mouth. The dogs caught the excite- 
ment and howled, and knew as well as their 
masters that something had happened, but probably 
knew not what. 



"A Whale Ashore'' 105 

The chief came to me with the interpreter, and 
told me that news had just arrived that a whale 
was struggling on the sands at the head of the 
strait, and that every canoe of the village would be 
in a few minutes on the way to the spot to se- 
cure it. 

He had told me in the morning that the north- 
west gale would drive many fine fish into the sound, 
and in the inlets and coves, where the water was 
calm, there would be fine spearing that night by 
torchlight ; that salmon and halibut would be taken 
in great quantities, and it had been arranged that I 
should go and see the sport ; but the sudden news 
of " a whale ashore " silenced every other excite- 
ment for the time, and engrossed everybody and 
everything that could be handled or moved. 

Every canoe was starting off, filled with men, 
women, and children, and with harpoons, and cords, 
and spears, and everything that their wigwams con- 
tained that could be used in securing the monster 
on the sands. The wind was still blowing a gale 
outside, and yet their flying canoes were starting 
off and up the strait, through which, a distance 
of fifteen or twenty miles to the spot, they could 
creep along the shore, and in quiet water. 

"A whale ashore" is surely a gift from Heaven 
for these poor people, and they receive it and use it 
as such. They believe it is sent to them to be re- 
ceived and used by all alike, and, no matter how 



io6 "A Whale Ashore." 



many tribes assemble on the occasion, all share 
alike in their efforts to secure it, and all share 
equally of its flesh, its sinews, and bones when it 
is dissected. A great proportion of its flesh is 
eaten ; other parts produce oil for their lamps, 
sinews, bones, skin, and fifty other things useful for 
Indian existence. 

Not only the canoes from this little village were 
on their way, but the coves and inlets of the sound 
were alive with canoes darting about, and wending 
their way to the whale wreck.' 

The chief sent the interpreter with us in a canoe 
to our vessel, and, night arriving, we lost sight of 
the Indians. The next morning the wind had so 
much abated that Captain Pasto put his schooner 
in motion, and sailing out of the Sound, and outside 
of the island, we were on our course, and had Hope 
Canal, at the head of the island, before us, and 
almost exactly in our route. 

Getting off the northern cape of the island, with 
glasses we had at once a view, at several miles dis- 
tance, of the monster lying high and dry on the 
beach, and the group of Indians, like ants around a 
sugar-bowl, moving in all directions about it We 
were all curious alike, and prevailed - on Captain 
Pasto to steer in towards the shore, and to give 
us his yawl for landing. 

He ran us within two or three hundred yards of 
the shore, and, the yawl manned, Simms and Levens 



"A Whale Ashore? 107 

and Caesar and myself got in, and Captain Pasto 
agreed to lie off and wait for us. 

The beach looked smooth and sandy and the sea 
calm, but it being ebb-tide,, and a current running 
off, we had a tremendous hard pull to reach the 
sands, and a tremendous sea-bath in landing. We 
got ashore, however, but drenched, and pulled our 
boat on to the sands. 

Then the sight ! — the spectacle ! The monster 
lay embedded in the sand, yet a long distance from 
us, and we started towards it. On our way we met 
our mulatto boy interpreter and several Indians 
coming to meet us. We approached the monster 
on the sea side, and in the immense furrow which 
in its struggles it had grooved out in the sand, as 
the waves of the rising tide had forced it towards 
the land, the sight was imposing when we came 
near to it, but not until Ave came around it on the 
shore side had I any idea of the scene we were to 
witness. 

Some hundreds, if not thousands of Indians of all 
ages and sexes, and in all colours, were gathered 
around it, and others constantly arriving. Some 
were lying, some standing and sitting in groups ; 
some were asleep, and others eating and drinking, 
and others were singing and dancing. 

At our approach the women commenced crying, 
and a mournful murmur ran through the crowd ; — 
eating and dancing and sleeping were all stopped. 



10S (i A Whale Ashore" 

The women covered their mouths with their hands, 
and cried and howled in piteous tones, and the men 
were silent. I asked our fine little interpreter if the 
chief whom we had seen the da}* before was there, 
and he said that he had not yet arrived, but that he 
would be there in a little time. I asked him what 
the women were crying about, and he said they had 
seen us coming from the ship, and they knew that 
we were some of "King George's" men coming to 
claim the whale. I asked him if he thought he 
could interpret what I wanted to say, so that they 
could all hear and understand it, and he said yes. 

tk That's right," said Simms, " make a speech to 
them, Catlin." 

Several immense baskets which had been brought 
to carry blubber, &c in were lying near, and placing 
two or three of these one within the other, and bot- 
tom side upwards, our little interpreter we lifted on 
to them, so that all could see and hear him. 

I stood upon another by the side of him, but not 
quite so high, and began, making significant signs 
which the}* all understood, that what I should say 
I spoke from my heart. 

I told them that I was sorry to learn that their 
women were crying because the}* thought we had 
come from our ship to claim the whale ; and if that 
was what the}* were crying for the}* need not cry 
any more, or have any fears of us ; that we were 
not "King George's" men, as they had thought, 



"A Whale Ashore." 109 

but that we were all friends of the Indians, and had 
come to see the whale, and to shake hands with 
them if they wished. 

"Tell them," I said to Joseph, "that I consider 
the Great Spirit loves them, and has sent this large 
fish to them as an evidence of it ; that it therefore 
belongs to them, and to nobody else." 

This interpreted to them, there was a shout of 
applause from the whole crowd with uplifted hands. 

" Tell them, Joseph, that we are only passing by 
on the ocean, never to see them again, and that we 
shall leave here in a few minutes, and wish them 
well." 

Another uproar of applause, and Joseph got 
down. A great many of the chiefs came up and 
shook hands with us, and all troubles were ended. 

The scene was now curious. No stones, no tim- 
bers, or anything of the sort were placed about the 
monster to secure it ; but on the shore side some 
twenty or thirty harpoons had been thrown into its 
side during its struggles on the rising tide by the 
first who were on the spot, and with long cords, 
some reaching to the trunks of the trees on the 
shore, and others fastened to stakes driven into the 
ground. These were watched, and at every lift of 
a wave moving the monster nearer the shore, they 
were tightened on the harpoons, and at low tide 
the carcass is left on dry land, a great distance from 
the water. 



no U A Whale Ashore" 

The whale, to Simms and Levens, was the curio- 
sity; and they took the measure— length and 
breadth of it ; to me, the curiosity was the crowd of 
poor Jmmans who were gathered about it, and of 
them I could take no other measure than by the 
naked eye ; for though I had put a sketch-book in 
my paletot-pocket, in the drenching which we got 
in landing every leaf of it, like everything else upon 
us, was soaked. 

The dissection of this monstrous creature, and its 
distribution amongst the thousands who would yet 
be a day or two in getting together, the interpreter 
informed us would not be commenced until all the 
claimants arrived, and I therefore lost one of the 
curious scenes of my life which I should have been 
glad to have witnessed. 

Their mode of slaughtering such a beast and di- 
viding it would have been curious in the extreme. 
A per capiium division is always the mode of the 
Indians in such cases— the poorest of the tribe and 
the youngest infant drawing the same as a chief. 

I could have studied for hours, without pencil or 
sketch-book, amongst the curious group, and those 
studies I never could forget. The beach, for half a 
mile, was almost literally covered with something — 
with reclining groups of women and children — with 
baskets, and bags, and cribs, and pouches, and every 
sort of vehicle they possessed, for transporting their 
respective proportions of the prize, and the drying 



-A Whale A shore" in 

of blankets, red,, blue, and green, and white, wet 
like ourselves in landing their canoes, made a carpet 
for the sands in the distance of the most extraor- 
dinary hues. 

Xot like the Sioux, or the Crows, or the Chav- 
ennes, covered, and plumed, and mocasined in full 
and handsome dresses, but poor, and naked, except- 
ing their breech-cloths and blankets, they were vet 
human — painted in a thousand forms and of all 
colours, and thus were subjects for a picture, and 
subjects for a sermon or a lecture. 

Our drenched condition and signals from Captain 
Pasto terminated our visit here. A crowd of these 
poor people followed us to our boat, took it up 
bodily, and entered the water with it, and took us 
up in their arms one by one, and waded through 
the surf with us, and put us into it, and bade us a 
civil and affectionate farewell. 

Sailing out of Nootka Sound, and again on our 
way to the visioned fields of gold and Indians, maps 
and charts were mustered out upon the table, cor- 
respondences relating to nuggets of fabulous sizes 
that had been seen amongst the Xayas Indians, 
and supposed localities in which they had been 
found, were brought out and referred' to, and the 
second and last great effort to raise another -gold 
fever" on me was strenuously tried, but decidedly 
failed. 

This, however, in no way impaired my influence 



ii2 Queen Charlottes Sound. 
in the consolidated strength of the expedition at 
that place, for the very field which was soon to be- 
come the scene of action for them, the actual 
"El Dorado" of America, was the very point to 
which my ambition led me, that coast being thickly 
inhabited by tribes of Indians of the most inte- 
resting character, and as yet but little known or 
appreciated. 

Passing the picturesque shores of Vancouver, we 
were soon in Queen Charlotte's Sound, and gliding 
along in front of the ever-varying mountain barriers 
of the mainland, covered alternately with rhodo- 
dendrons and honey-suckles, or capped with moss- 
covered rocks enclosed by deep and dark ravines 
shooting up their tall and pointed pines and cedars. 

At the shore of the sea, huge blocks from the 
mountain tops stood in relief, like houses, and 
sometimes like immense ramparts and castles rising 
out of the water, and behind and around them 
quiet glades overshadowed by outstretched arms of 
pines and hemlocks, and overhung by long-leafed 
laurel, under, and through, and around which, bri- 
gades' of the Nayas' painted canoes, with their car- 
goes of red shoulders, and glistening paddles, were 
darting, and easily keeping us opposite company 

On our left, and towards the setting sun, and blue 
and purple in the distance, rose the shining summits 
of Queen Charlotte's island ; and near its base, a 
blotched mass of deep green (its pines and cedars), 



Liska, Alaeutian Islands. 113 

underlined by a streak of white, the sands of its 
shore, at ebb-tide. No imagination could paint, and 
few artists' pencils ever have painted, scenes so 
grand and so picturesque as these. 

We are gliding along from day to day, with our 
glasses beholding the "rocks that are doubtless full 
of gold," and my Indian subjects flying about in 
their light canoes, and the smokes of their villages 
on the shore, which, by our " agreements/' we are 
bound to pass by, and leave for our homeward 
voyage. What temptations, and what glorious 
fields were beckoning us back ! 

These left behind, what then is before us? Liska 
is the chief town of the Alaeutian islands ; a little 
village of some sixty or eighty Russian and Indian 
houses and huts, where Captain Pasto goes once a 
year, gets skins, gets wool, and other products, for 
which he trades cotton and woollen cloths, hard- 
ware, cutlery, &c. The Russians here are half 
Indians, and the Indians are Americans, not Kams- 
katkans, nor Mongol Tartars ; not an expression 
or feature of either, as my portraits will show. 

What next? The captain's business done, we 
are on the sea, and a few days' sail brings us to the 
coast of Siberia, and the river Kamskatka, of twenty 
miles, transports us to the town of Nishna-Kams- 
katk, or Petropolovski. What a town! How droll. 
Russian houses built of pine poles and mud, adobes 
and mud ! and huts of Kodak Indians, somewhat 

I 



ii4 Kamskatka, Siberia. 

like the Mandan wigwams, earth-covered, but the 
doors in their tops — how strange — men, women, 
and dogs walk down a ladder to get into 
them ! 

There's Che-nish-ka Wabe (a mountain on fire), 
the volcano of Avatcha ; its smoke stands up in a 
vast column leaning to the right, and softening 
away in the distance in a long and straight cloud 
towards the western horizon. The mountain is 
blue in the distance, and yet we must look into its 
sulphurous crater. Mud, and then snow, and then 
the most frowning and defiant rocks are in our way, 
but we go on. We get to the brink of the awful and 
boiling lake, when nature is completely exhausted. 

Sulphur is glazed over everything we touch and 
everything we see. Excepting smoke, we see 
nought but rocks ; we tread upon them, and lean 
against their slippery sides, and tremble at the 
awful sight that is before us ; and rage and fret too, 
for all beyond, below, and all around us is smoke, 
smoke ! and nothing else. 

Hissing like a thousand furnaces at work is con- 
stant ; a hollow and consumptive cough is frequent ; 
and now and then a sneezing, ejecting jets of stones 
and gravel, coated with liquid, blazing sulphur, 
whizzing past our heads, and rattling amongst the 
rocks around and over us. These significant moni- 
tors determine us to retrace our steps and get a 
view from the valley several miles below, for nothing 



Volcano of Avatcha 115 

of the Avatcha can be seen, at this season, from its 
fumy head and sides above. 

What a day of toil was spent to see a sight un- 
seen ! And yet, as we are sailing off, upon the 
green waters of the bay, how splendid to gaze upon 
the snow-clad sides (yet blue in the distance), and the 
rising clouds from the crater of the Avatcha. Good- 
bye, ye icy, muddy, willowy, cedared, rock}- coast of 
Siberia, and ye Koriaks, fine fellows, whose por- 
traits I slipped into my portfolio ! 

"Back to Queen Charlotte's," said the captain, 

and so said our " agreements ; " " but stop a 

codicil!" said our attorney, Simms. "Captain, we 
have agreed to see Petropetrovski, the Russian 
capital, and you must run us to it ; and then we 
will sail for Queen Charlottes, and not before. 
And we four have agreed to give you thirty dollars 
each." 

" I can't do it," said Captain Pasto. " You have 
all seen my papers, and you know if I leave my 
track I risk my insurance." " Curse the risk and 
curse the insurance," said Simms; " we will insure 
your vessel, and a better insurance you can't find 
on the face of the earth. Bring forward your agree- 
ments, all hands;''' said he ; and in ten minutes the 
following " codicil " was appended : — 

" Codicil, off the Coast of Kamskatka, 1853. 
"Further agreed, to run the Sally Anne to 



1 1 6 A " Codicil " 

Petropetrovski, and thence to Queen Charlottes 
Sound ; no risques; enough to eat, and nigger free. 

"Signed, J. Paulding, 

"V. SIMMS, 
"J. LEYEX5, 

• C aft. PA5TO, of the Sally Anne 



The thirty dollars each were put down, and the 
d for Petropetrovski. " You do things 
Captain Pasto to (Squire) Simms, as 
im. "Yes, by G — . sir, when I know 
I £o ahead. I've been a Missouri at- 



vessel he 



up such things as this. I have sat three time 
Judge Lynch, and signed death warrants in half 
the time. Brevity is the life and strength of all 
business, and when I know I'm right I lose no time." 

Each one rocketed his agreement again, and the 
captain went to the deck, evidently under a strong 
conviction of the necessity of following to the letter 
the meaning- and intention of the document he had 



Petrouetrovski had very little interest for any of 
us ; the captain had no business there ; and the 
prospect of " gold " was a dead one. I saw, how- 
ever, during the :our days that we remained there, 
a ~rouo of Esquimaux Indians, and a number of 



A Sailor s Narrative. 1 1 7 

Athapascas, who come in there occasionally. These 
were interesting to me, and I got my sketches of them. 

My gold-hunting companions were getting im- 
patient ; and all hands, the captain included, were 
sighing for wind, as we were sailing down the coast 
and aiming for Queen Charlotte's. 

There was now another overhauling of papers 
between my fellow voyagers ; who, it seems, had 
before but partially informed me on the subject of 
their grand design, and the excitements which had 
turned their attention to it. 

" Catlin," said Levens (as they had got me to the 
table), " you must know all about our plans before 
we go any further/' A number of letters were read 
to me, and amongst them one from a brother of 
Levens, in New Orleans, who had drawn from a 
sailor, some years before, something like the follow- 
ing extraordinary narrative : — 

"After a fatal shipwreck in Queen Charlotte's 
Sound, in 1825, he and one other sailor succeeded 
in reaching the land, on the mainland shore, and in 
a state of starvation got into an Indian village, 
where they wore large round blocks of wood in 
their lips, and were very kind and friendly to them. 

" That they remained there two years, when one 
of them died, and the other one, who gave the 
narrative, got permission to go with a party of 
Indians, in their canoes, to Nootka Sound, where 
he got on board of a vessel sailing for Panama." 

The surprising and only supposed available part 



1 1 S Gold Nuggets of 

of this narrative was the astounding description of 
lumps and masses of pure gold which he had seen 
in the possession of the Xayas Indians ; and 
amongst these, belonging to the chief, "a solid 
block, the full size of a man's head, and as much as 
one man could lift I" 

What a cause for an epidemic or a contagion ! 
Who would not catch the gold fever — unless he had 
had a touch of it before — at a recital like this ? 

No precise locality for this wonderful discovery 
was given ; nothing more definite than that it be- 
loneed to one of the great chiefs, and was seen 
amongst the Xayas Indians, on the mainland side 
of Queen Charlotte's Sound, which has an extent of 
several hundreds of miles on the coast and some 
hundreds of miles in the rear. 

The "gold fever,'" however, has the wonderful 
power of shortening distances and of solving the 
most embarrassing difficulties. " Such wonderful 
nuggets as this," I was informed, "must be known 
throughout the tribe, and the way, therefore, could 
easily be found to it ; and the bed from whence it 
came must be known also to the Indians. That's 
what we want, Catlin. more than the big nuggets; 
but we'll get at them both, you may rely upon it." 

The cool and perfect state of health I was in as 
to "gold" seemed to check a little the fever 
that was raging around me, but not to allay it, 
for I said. 44 Gentlemen, I am yours for any expe- 



the Nay as Indians. 119 

dition we can agree upon into the interior of this 
interesting country ; there are many things in it 
which I have heard of, and which I want. But, 
hold," said I, " do you know that the whole of this 
country and its populations have been for these 
fifty years in the possession and under the control 
of, the Hudson's Bay Company, who are gold- 
hunters as well as yourselves ? They have their 
trading houses amongst these people ; and has it 
occurred to you that such a wonderful nugget 
would probably have found its w r ay into their hands 
before this, if it actually existed amongst the Nayas 
Indians ? I do not suggest this to discourage you, 
but I will go ashore with you and use all my en- 
deavours to assist you in discovering these wonder- 
ful treasures. ,, 

The third day of sailing brought us into the 
Sound, and nearing the coast, the smoke of an In- 
dian village was soon in view ; and getting near to 
it, the roofs of houses, which at once informed us 
that we were in front and in full view of one of 
the Hudson's Bay Company's factories. All hands 
suggested, and I agreed, that we had better proceed 
further down the coast, and land at some of the vil- 
lages which we had passed on our northward passage. 

My comrades seemed evidently surprised at the 
information I had given them as to the Hudson's 
Bay Company, and their influence in that country, 
and began to show symptoms of fear lest they 



120 Queen Charlottes Sound. 

should excite an enemy more fatal to their enter- 
prise than the Indians themselves. They evidently 
were approaching a country that they had known 
little about, and which, they had believed, with all 
its treasures, lay open and free to all comers. 

I explained to them as near as I could the vast 
influence the Company had over the whole of that 
country, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific 
Ocean — the great number of trading houses they 
had, that one or more of their employes would pro- 
bably be found in every Indian village, and that the 
present existence amongst the Indians of such a 
block of gold as had been described was a matter 
of impossibility, or that rich mines of gold known 
to the Indians could have escaped their acquisitive 
investigations. 

My advice and suggestions, which were less pa- 
tient Iv listened to at first, were now beinsf more 
thankfully received, as I reiterated with them my in- 
tention to use my best efforts and all my influence, 
under any circumstances, to promote their views, 
whilst any chance of success remained. 

We were running on, and sundown and twilight 
approaching, Ave ran into a deep cove, sheltered by 
a high and precipitous rock escarpment, and the 
"Silly Anne" cast anchor and laid till morning. 
At sunrise, and before coming on deck, I heard dis- 
tinctly Caesar's loud voice and broad laugh, as he 
was ejaculating English, Spanish, and the Lingua 



Nayas Indians on Deck. 121 

Geral, all in rapid succession, convincing me that 
we had visitors on board, I got on deck (the gold- 
hunters yet fast asleep), and found our forward deck 
half covered with a party of Indians, and double the 
number resting on their paddles, in their painted 
canoes, lying around us. Fresh salmon and dried, 
in great abundance, and oysters and whortleberries, 
were brought on board for barter, and the captain 
and mate were busily engaged in laying in supplies, 
while Caesar, a head taller than all the group, and 
the sun shining on his glistening cheek-bones and 
forehead, stood, with his rifle in his arms, a model, 
vainly endeavouring by his Lingua Geral and 
Spanish to get some clue to conversation with the 
curious group around him ; but all in vain, and for 
the first time I had seen him put to his trumps 
completely. 

All eyes were upon him, and the Indians were as 
much surprised and perplexed at his sudden advent 
and novel appearance as he was perplexed with the 
total unintelligibility of their language. It required 
but a coup <T<zil to see that shining, glistening 
black Caesar was to be the lion, the paragon of the 
enterprise. The Indians on deck all shook hands 
with him, and, in total default of his Spanish and 
Geral, he had got into a partial conversation with 
them by signs manual, of which he was master, and 
which fa curious fact; are much the same amonest 
all the tribes, both in Xorth and South America ; 



122 Ccesar and the Nay as. 

and by the time I ^ot on deck he was becoming- a 
tolerable interpreter for me, 

"Well, dear me, 3»Iassa Catlin," said Caesar, 
" dem dar berry curious people. I b'lieve dey berry 
2*ood. I o;uess vou ^o ashore, Massa ?" 

" Yes, Csesar ; we are ^oinp* to land here for a 
while, after the other gentlemen get up." 

We were lying about four hundred yards from 
the shore at this time, and though no sisfns of a 
village could be seen, their light and bounding 
canoes were constantly putting out from the nooks 
and crevices in the rocks overhung with cedar and 
impenetrable masses of red, and white, and purple 
rhododendrons, and gathering in a gay and dancing 
fleet around us. 

Though I had heard of the beauty of their canoes, 
and their dexterous mode of handling them, I had 
formed but an ignorant notion of them. The 
sluggish loes and tubs that Caesar and I had been 
knocked about in on the Amazon and the Xingu,gave 
us no clue to the light, the gay, the painted gondolas 
now dancing on the ocean's waves about us. Exca- 
vated from the trunks of the immense cedars of 
that country, they were fashioned with grace and 
lightness, and painted of all colours, and so were 
the naked shoulders that were seen within them. 

Like a flock of goats playing up and down upon 
a group of hillocks, upon the rising and sinking 
waves they were sporting and vaulting in all direc- 



Beautiful Canoes. 123 

tions, and seemed, at times, actually rearing, as if 
to leap upon the deck. Their paddles were all 
painted with similar designs as those upon their 
boats, and their robes, when worn, showed characters 
the same, and all seemed like some system of 
hieroglyphic signs yet to be understood. 

In Plate No. 5, two of these canoes, with paddles, 
are represented. 



In the midst of the group now assembled on the 
deck, our attorney, Simms, emerged from the cabin 
below, exclaiming — 

" Good God, Catlin, we are prisoners !" 

" Oh, no ; we are in the midst of one of the most 
friendly receptions, and it is a great pity that you, 
and Paulding, and Levens, should lose any part of 



124 ^ n Excitement. 



it. We are in the midst of the Nayas Indians, and 
their largest village is just around the point ahead 
of us." 

" Halloa, below there, fellows!" exclaimed Simms, 
putting his head as far down the hatchway as he 
could. " You are losing everything ! " 

Half-awake, and misunderstanding the two last 
words, and hearing the voices of Indians on deck, 
and catching a glimpse of the group through the 
sky-lights, they advanced most bravely, and at a 
jump were on the deck, with their rifles up and 
their revolvers ready ! Simms sprang at one, and I 
at the other, and, just in time, saved the carnage 
that was at the instant of commencing. 

The Indians, unarmed, flew to the bow ^ of the 
vessel, and a number of them overboard. And well 
they might, from the frightful aspect of the two 
gladiators, but half dressed, and rising, like demons, 
from below, at the signal call, for their extermi- 
nation. 

I spread my hands fonvard and over the Indians, 
and made signs for them to come back, w r hilst 
Simms and myself were cooling down the two fire- 
brands ; when Caesar threw himself between the two 
groups, and, a figure like the Colossus of Rhodes, 
he stood, explaining by signs to one party, and by 
tolerably good English to the other, that " it was 
only a little mistake, and dat we were all berry 
good friends." 



u Sore Lips." 125 

This little sensation over, others of the Indians 
began climbing on board from their canoes, and, 
last of all, some half a dozen of their women, whose 
eyes were riveted on Caesar ; and he began to loom 
up, as he used to do amongst the Muras, the Con- 
nibos, and the Chetibos, and other tribes of the 
Amazon. 

He was naturally a tremendous gallant, and, 
stimulated by the gaze of these fair, and oftentimes 
half and three-fourths naked, beauties, he was fre- 
quently in the clouds, and almost beyond the reach 
of all control. 




6. 



Frequent instances showed me that his sym- 
pathies, at last, were with the damsels ; and the 
singular appearance of one of them, whom he had 
Observed, brought him to me at this instant, 

" Well, de Lord be praised, Massa Catlin. I 



i2o Mayas Village. 

berry sorry for dat poor gal dar. she got mighty 



soa lip !" 

" Yes, Caesar, it's a great pity ; for she seems, 
from her dress and manners, to be a very nice girl ; 
I should say, the belle of the village." 

Breakfast was ready below, and Caesar and the 
hands of the vessel amused the group on deck 



whilst we were taking our coffee, and discussing the 
movements of the day, to be made on the land. 

Caesar had learned that their village was just 
around the point, and, at the request of the mate, 
the Indians were returning to their village, where 
they were informed we should follow them when 
our breakfast was over. 

About nine o'clock we four, with Captain Pasto 
(with only our revolvers, our rifles being left on 
board), and Caesar, carrying my portfolio on his 
back, and his minie rifle in his hand, got into the 
yawl and went ashore, and were conducted to the 
village, which was at the head of a little cove, a 
half a mile or so from the shore. 

The Indians, informed of our visit, had all 
gathered into their huts, and the chief, a very dig- 
nified man, was seated in his wigwam and ready, 
with his pipe lit, to receive us. We were seated on 
mats spread upon the ground, and whilst the pipe 
was being passed around, the first ceremony on all 
such occasions, the Indian dogs (half wolves), of 
which there were some hundreds, got upon our 



Indian Do£S. 127 

tracks, and completely invested the chief's wigwam, 
and set up the most hideous and doleful chorus of 
yells, and howls, and barks. The sentinel whom 
the chief had placed at the door of his wigwam, to 
prevent all access except by his permission, drew 
his bow upon one of the foremost of the gang, and 
shot it through the heart, when the throng was 
silenced and dispersed by the Indian women, who 
set upon them with their paddles. 

Our position was rather awkward, having no 
other interpretation than the imperfect knowledge 
of signs named, of Caesar and myself, brought 
from South America and the valley of the Mis- 
souri. However, we effected a general understand- 
ing, and learned from the chief that he had sent to 
another village not far off, and would have an 
excellent interpreter in a little time. 

I told my companions I thought they had better 
not say a word of their object in visiting the country 
until the interpreter arrived, when it could be clearly 
explained without being misunderstood, and in the 
mean time I would not lose a moment's time in 
making a sensation, and of exciting a friendly 
interest. 

" Good/' said Simms, " I know what it is, Catlin, 
go a-head ! Show him your pictures." 

I had beckoned Caesar, who was at that moment 
unstrapping the portfolio from his back, and ad- 
vancing towards me, I opened it before the chief, 



128 Shriving Indian Portraits. 

and sat by the side of him explaining the portraits, 
as I turned them over. He was a very deliberate 
and dignified man, and exhibited no surprise what- 
ever, but at the same time evidently took a deep 
interest in them. 

I showed him several chiefs of the Amazon, and 
also several of the Sioux, Osages, and Pawnees, 
and the last one turned up, a portrait, full length, 
of Caesar Bolla. He could not hold his muscles 
still any longer, but burst out in the most uncon- 
trollable and vociferous laugh, and turning around 
to Caesar, who was sitting at the further side of the 
lodge, extended his hand, which Caesar advanced 
and shook, and at the chief 's request, took a seat 
by the side of him. 

The book of portraits was creating such an ex- 
citement, that three or four sub-chiefs came in and 
took their seats. And the wigwam being in two 
sections, and divided by a door made by a hanging 
bearskin, which was put aside, two women and a 
young man entered, and also took their seats on 
the ground, to get a peep at the portraits ; one of 
these was the wife of the chief, and the other his 
daughter, an unmarried girl. 

Caesar had his attention at this time fixed upon 
one of the men who had taken his seat, with the 
block of wood in his under lip, and the chiefs 
daughter was decorated in the same way. 
" Caesar/' said I, "here are more sore lips." 



Ccesars Portrait. 129 

"Well, now, I do decla, Massa Catlin, dea me, 
I think it is ketchin ! " 

I turned the portfolio through again, to the 
amusement and astonishment of all, and when 
Caesar Bolla was turned up, there was a roar, of 
laughter again, all eyes were upon him, and turning 
his face one side, and a little down, he whispered to 
me, "Well now, Massa Catlin, I neber felt so shame 
in all my life afoa." And when he had mustered 
courage to raise his head, and cast his eyes around, I 
said, "Caesar, your portrait has cured the sore lips" 
(the two wearing blocks of wood in their lips 
having slipped them out in order to enable them to 
laugh). 

About the instant that Caesar had observed that 
the blocks were out, and the broad laugh was over, 
they were slipped in again, when he exclaimed, 
"Well, Massa Catlin, affer dat, I neber know wat 
I will see nex." 

Though this curious and unaccountable custom 
was known to me, my companions had been as 
ignorant of it as Caesar was, and evidently were 
regarding it with equal astonishment. I said to 
them and to Caesar, "Of the 'sore lips' take no 
more notice until the interpreter comes, and then 
we will learn all about it." 

My attention was then fixed on a beautiful mantle 
worn by the chief's daughter, made, as I learned, 
of mountain sheeps' wool and wild dogs' hair, won- 

K 



I 3° Indian Cziriosities. 

derfully knitted with spun-yarn of beautiful colours, 
and so assembled as to exhibit the most eccentric 
and intricate figures, and bordered with a fringe of 
eighteen inches in length, the work of three women 
for one year, I was told, and its price, five horses. 

The bowl of the pipe which the chief had been 
passing around was full fourteen inches in length of 
pot stone,, jet black, and highly polished, the whole, 
a group of figures, human and animal, interlocked 
and carved in the most ingenious manner. 

Of these pot-stone pipes I saw many, and obtained 
several, and the eccentric designs on them, on their 
robes, their canoes, their paddles, their leggings, 
and even the paintings on their faces and limbs, 
are peculiarly tribal, and their own, differing from 
anything seen in the other tribes of the continent. 

The same extraordinary characters are written 
on their spoons, their bowls, their vases, their war- 
clubs ; on their pottery, of which they make great 
quantities, and on everything else that they manu- 
facture, and seeming to be a system of hierogly- 
phics not yet explained, and which for the archaeolo- 
gist and ethnologist may yet be a subject of pecu- 
liar interest. 

Instead of the stupid, superstitious fears and ob- 
jections which generally stood in the way of my 
painting their portraits in the valley of the Amazon 
and other parts of South America, this intelligent 
and rational man at once said, when I asked him 



Painting a Chief. 131 

" Yes ; if you find any of us worthy of so great an 
honour, and handsome enough, we will all be ready 
to be painted." 

" Good J" said I (by intelligible signs); "I love 
such a man. Caesar, bring my painting-box and 
easel from the vessel, and I will begin this noble 
fellow s portrait this afternoon." 

"Catlin!" said Simms, "you are getting al- 
together ahead of us." 

" Never mind," said I, " I am on the right track 
— the right vein. I know these people better than 
you do ; they must be pleased first, amused, com- 
plimented ; and the compliment I am now paying 
to the chief will make him the friend of all. I will 
secure his goodwill first for the whole party, and 
when the interpreter comes to-morrow, you may 
put in your claims in the best manner you can 
devise." 

The afternoon came, and my paint-box and the 
chief were before me, and with him his lovely daugh- 
ter. He told me he loved her, and always made it 
a rule to have her by him, and he thought I had 
better place them both in the same picture. I told 
him I loved him for that ; it was natural and noble. 

Vanity is the same all the world over, both in 
savage and civilized societies. Good looks in por- 
traiture and fashions, whatever they are — crinoline 
of the lip or crinoline of the waist (and one is just 
as beautiful and reasonable as the other), or rings 



13 2 Nay as Indians. 

in the nose or rings in the ears, they are all the 
same. 

Night came, and my picture was taken on board. 




1 




A French Interpreter. 133 

an hour. We will have a council to-morrow in the 
chief's lodge, and, his interpreter present, your plans 
will progress as well as mine/' 

During- the night the wind veered about, and, 
very nearly being driven on to the rocks, the cap- 
tain set sail, and crossing the sound, got shelter 
under the lee of Queen* Charlotte's Island. The 
wind abating the next day, we were able in the after- 
noon to return to our anchorage in front of the 
Indian village. 

The Indians were all on the shore, and received 
us with shouts, and many in their canoes gathered 
around us whilst we were coming to anchor ; and 
amongst them came on board the interpreter who 
had been sent for by the chief. He was a young 
man, a Frenchman, by the name of Frenie, an em- 
ploye in the fur company, and met us with much 
civility. 

From him we soon got an account of the nume- 
rous tribes of Indians along the coast, and on Queen 
Charlotte's Island, over which also the fur com- 
pany's business extended. The interpreter had 
learned from the chief that I had painted his por- 
trait, and it being brought on deck, he was exces- 
sively delighted with it, holding it up over the gun- 
wale and showing it to the Indians paddling about 
in their canoes. 

Caesar was on the spot with my cartoon portraits, 
and ready to make a further sensation. "Yes," 



134 



Ccesar lionized. 



said I, " Caesar, bring it forward." We had a look 
at the portraits, and the interpreter then asked my 
name. When I wrote it for him with my pencil, he 
said my name had been familiar to him for ten years 
past, and that there was not a man in the Hudson's 
Bay Company nor an Indian between the Rocky 
Mountains and the Pacific coast who had not heard 
my name, and of the collection of Indian paintings 
I was making, though he believed I never was in 
that part of the country before. 

He told us that the chief expected myself and 
my companions to eat and to smoke with him in 
his wigwam that afternoon, and that at night the 
doctors were going to give us a medicine dance. 
Simms agreed with me that "all was going right," 
and that it would be best not to start the inquiries 
about gold until these festivities were over. 

We were soon ashore, all excepting Captain Pasto 
and his crew, he having hinted to me that there 
might be a plot in all this to get all ashore, and 
then take possession of his vessel. I was quite 
agreed to this, as the festivities would now be ten- 
dered to us alone who could appreciate them. 

As we approached the village a great throng 
came out to meet us, and I observed the mass (and 
particularly the women) were siding up to Caesar, 
who was marching at his fullest height, with the 
portfolio of portraits strapped on his back. 

The concourse of people seeming to me too large 



A "Medicine Dance." 135 

for so small a village, led me to make the sugges- 
tion to the interpreter, who replied that " the news 
of our arrival and the masquerade dance to be given 
that evening had brought a great number from 
Jaurna's village, and that others were corning." 

"Soa lips" now began to thicken around Caesar, 
who had got the portfolio off from his back, and 
was carrying it under his left arm, whilst the other 
was constantly employed in answering the questions 
put by signs. He was evidently the lion, and as 
soon as I could I got him and his portfolio into the 
chief's lodge, to be subject to the chief's orders. 

My companions found enough for their amuse- 
ment amongst the throng whilst I was sketching 
two other portraits, and at sundown we sat down to 
a feast of venison in the chief's wigwam. This and 
a a smoke" kept us till some time after dark, when 
a dozen or more flaming torches, with yelping, and 
barking, and singing, approached his wigwam, and 
in front of it commenced the masquerade dance. 

Bizarre is but a lame word for the startling 
eccentricity and drollery that were then before us. 
Caesar was not in the midst of it, but by the side of 
it, and overlooking it. I had serious apprehensions 
that I should lose him, from the hysterical bursts 
and explosions of laughter that fell in bolts and 
half-strangled hiccups from his broad mouth. 

Some fifteen or twenty, all men, were engaged in 
'in this singular affair, all masked and otherwise 



136 Masks of the Dancers. 

dressed in the most strange and curious taste, and 
many of the lookers-on, in the front ranks, both 
men and women, were masked and dressed in a 
similar manner. 

The leader of the dance, a medicine man, the 
drollest of the droll, was the "King of the Bustards;" 
another was "King of the Loons;" another was 
the " Doctor of the ^ Rabbits ;" one was the " Devil's 
Brother:' one was " the Maker of the Thunder" one 
was "the White Crow" one was "the Bear that 
1 ravels in the night" and another "the Cariboo's 
Ghost" &c &c. until the names of the animal and 
feathered tribes were chiefly exhausted. 

The masks which the dancers wore (and of which 
I procured several), were works of extraordinary 
ingenuity. Carved in a solid block of wood, ex- 
cavated in such a manner as closely to fit the face, 
and held to the dancers face by a transverse strap 
of leather, from corner to corner of the mouth of 
the mask, inside, so that when the mask was on, 
and close to the face, the strap of leather was taken 
between the teeth, counterfeiting thereby, not only 
the face, but the voice, — a perfection in masking 
vet to be learned in the masquerades of civilized, 
frolickings. 

Besides the ingenuity exhibited in the forms and 
expressions of these masks, they were all painted 
of various colours, and with the most eccentric 
designs. These masks (with the exception of that 



A MEDICINE DANCE. 



Indian Customs. 137 

worn by the leader of the dance), were all made to 
imitate the mode of the people, of wearing a block 
of wood in the under-lip. 

The custom of masking and of masquerade 
dancing is by no means peculiar to the Nayas In- 
dians, for in many of the tribes, both in South and 
North America, I have witnessed similar amusements. 




9- 



In plate (No. 9), copies of two of my portraits 
illustrate the mode of wearing the blocks of wood 
in the under-lip, and also of slitting and elongating 
the cartilage and lobes of the ears, in which large 
blocks also are worn as ornaments. 



138 Nay as Customs. 

The ornament of the lip is a mode belonging 
chiefly to the women, though there are some ec- 
centric men who also practise it. And of the 
women, it is but a portion of them who perforate 
the lip, and even by them it is only on particular 




10. 

{a) A block worn by a child of three or four years 7 old. 
Q?) A block worn at the age of seven or eight years. 
{c) A block worn by a young woman at maturity. 
(d) A block worn by the men only, in the cartilage of the 
ear. 

occasions that they wear the blocks, to be seen, as 
they term it, in full dress. When eating and sleep- 
ing the blocks are removed, and also when much 



Lip-blocks. 159 

use of their tongues is required ; for, with the block 
in the mouth there are many words not pronounced. 

In Plate (No. 10), I have given the exact dimen- 
sions and shapes of three blocks for the lip and one 
for the ear, which I procured of the people whilst 
amongst them. 

The perforation for the block in the lip is made 
at a very early age, and is kept open through life, 
and is scarcely perceptible when the block is out. 

For inserting the block, the thumb of the left 
hand is forced upwards through the aperture, and 
by the side of it the thumb of the right hand, and 
the block is delivered into its place by the fingers, 
from above, as the thumbs are withdrawn. 

The whole of the next day after the masquerade 
I was painting, and Caesar was showing and des- 
canting on the portfolio ; and my three companions, 
with the interpreter, were discussing gold nuggets 
and gold placers ; and as near as I could ever learn 
it, the total of their discoveries led to this : that 
there had been, about two years before, a party of 
gold-hunters from California in that country, having 
heard marvellous accounts of gold nuggets in the 
possession of the Indians, and that they had been 
ordered out of the country by the Hudson's Bay 
Company, and were obliged to leave in a great 
hurry ; that there had, no doubt, been some nuggets 
in the hands of some of the Indians, but that they 
had been found at a great distance off, near the 



i4P 



Smith's Inlet 



mountains, on the bank of a great river (supposed 
to be Frazers river, where the rich mines are now 

The Frazer River mines, at that time, were just 
becoming known ; and my companions very ju- 
diciously decided that their best way would be to 
return to Victoria, and take the track of the flood 
of Frazer River miners at that time ascending the 
Frazers river. 

This resolution suited the captain of our little 
cratt exactly, as time was precious to him. and his 
vessel more or less at risk whilst lving- alon^ the 
coast. Victoria, which was then but a town of 
some forty or fifty houses, was our next aim ; and 
stopping a cay or two in several villages of Hydas 
and Bella Bellas, on the coast, we were safe at 
anchor in Smith's Inlet, opposite to the northern 
cape of Vancouver's Island. Its shores were alive 
with the smokes of Indian villages, and there was 
no need of leaving the vessel to see Indians. We 
were at all hours of the da}- surrounded by their 
bounding and galloping pirogues, and often had 
more than the captain was disposed to accommo- 
date on deck, mostly a miserable, almost naked 
and squalid-looking multitude, bringing fish and 
oysters to barter for rum or whatever else they 
could get. Amongst these were SI: I debates. 
Stickeens, Bella Bellas, Hydas, and several other 
tribes inhabiting the coast and islands in the 



Coast of Vancouver. 141 

vicinity. Some were flat heads, and others were 
not. 

It mattered little to me what the shapes of their 
heads were, and for a couple of days I was gather- 
ing them into my portfolio, whilst Csesar kept all 
comers, and of all languages, amused with the por- 
traits, which he was lecturing on alternately in 
English, in Spanish, and Lingua Geral, from which 
they learned just as much as they would have 
learned from the squalling of a paroquet or cockatoo. 

It seemed a perfect mystery to my impatient com- 
panions, "how I could sit out two whole days with- 
out my dinner, painting those ill-looking Indians." 
They killed time, below the deck, with the captain, 
at cards ; and during the third night sails were up 
to pass the straits and run to Victoria, which our 
chart showed us was but a short run. 

Morning came, and where were we ? not in the 
harbour of Victoria, nor near it, but in front of 
Xootka Island, where we had been before, oft" the 
west coast of Vancouver, and its tall pines and 
rocky peaks but just discernible ! And for what ? 
nobody could tell, unless the captain's reasons were 
correct, that the shape and character of the winds 
made it hazardous to run the Strait and the Sound, 
and that an open sea and fair sailing, which he was 
making, was apt to be the quickest and the safest. 

A forty-eight hours' run brought us around the 
southern cape of the island, and into the Strait of 



142 Wreck of the "Sally Anne." 

Juan de Fuca, and hugging the shore, and heading 
towards Victoria. And hugging a little too close, at 
low tide, the keel of the Sally Anne was rubbing on 
the sands, and losing her headway, and hitching in- 
wards a little at every wave, as the tide was rising. 
She was hitched up, and hitched up, until, at high 
tide, she was lying, and was left, broadside upon 
the sands in a little sandy cove, between huge and 
frowning rocks. 

We remained on board until another flood tide, 
which only lifted us higher up and left us again, a 
few rods further on to the island, and, of course, a 
few rods nearer to Victoria. All chances of getting 
his little craft nearer to Victoria harbour being now 
apparently ended, and with due sympathy for the 
poor captain, w T hich we all felt, as we were taking 
leave, we each agreed to leave him a bonus of thirty 
dollars, and each signed his " agreement" to take 
us to Victoria, "executed!' We got some Flathead 
Indians on the shore to carry our luggage, and at 
their guidance we trudged through the forest to 
Victoria. 

In Victoria all was confusion, complete pell-mell ; 
houses were filled, steamers and vessels were full, 
and men and women were sleeping in carts and 
wagons in the streets, and others were not sleeping 
at all, but, with bonfires built upon the bank, or 
under the pines, were dancing away the nights in 
wild and frantic whirls. 



Victoria, 143 

Frazer River \\2AyxstcUbuted as the El Dorado of 
the world, and it seemed as if California had emptied 
itself, "neck and heels'— its men, its mules, and its 
steamers — into the Sound of Vancouver. 

Reports were hourly arriving from the mines, and 
all was— on — on ! " pull Dick and pull Devil," and 
"bad luck to the hindmost." The "Celestials" 
were there, with two oblique sabre cuts and two 
gimlet holes for eyes ; Xew Yorkers and Londoners 
were there, and all the nations of the earth seemed 
to be assembling. The Omnipotent hand had 
spread nuggets and sands of gold in such profusion 
over the new-discovered fields, that it required but 
the hand of industrious man to pick and scrape it 
up, and load his pockets with it. 

The midst of this grand meleevia& the place exactly 
for my three impatient companions, and the mere 
hurried " Good-bye, and God bless you, Cat.," was 
about all that I could get from them as they 
disappeared ; and all that I can say of them, un- 
less in a more appropriate place, and in a more 
advanced part of this little book, I may be able to 
do it. 

The poor Indians living in the vicinity of Vic- 
toria, on Vancouver's Island, and all belonging to 
the Flathead family, seemed alarmed, and withdrew 
their encampments into the forests. 

In the midst of such an epidemic, after having 
had the fever myself, one can easily imagine my 



144 ' The "Dalles." 

position anything but agreeable, and in a few days, 
by a returning San Francisco steamer, Caesar and I 
got a passage to Astoria, and from thence, by an- 
other craft, to Portland, the head of navigation on 
the Columbia River. 

This thrifty little beginning of a town has the 
prospect of wealth and greatness before it. 1 

The " Dalles" (and we soon made it) was the 
next and the last destination foreshadowed in that 
direction, thirty miles above, and on the same river. 
This famous place, from time immemorial the 
living, the life, and support of tens of thousands of 
surrounding Indians, from the endless quantities of 
salmon taken in it, is a bold and furious rapid, for 
several miles dashing and foaming through com- 
pressed channels in the rocks, in the eddies of 
which the fatigued fish, in their laborious ascent, 
stop to rest, and are pierced by the harpoon arrows 
of the overleaning and overlooking Indian, and 
lifted out. 

The fresh fish for current food, and the dried fish 
for their winter consumption, which had been from 
time immemorial a good and certain living for the 
surrounding tribes, like everything else of value 
belonging to the poor Indian, has attracted the 



1 Whilst halting a few days in this little seaport town, I 
learned by accident that Captain Pasto had got his schooner 
afloat, and had put out to sea. 



The "Dalles" 145 

cupidity of the " better class," and is now being 
" turned into money," whilst the ancient and* real 
owners of it may be said to be starving to death ; 
dying in sight of what they have lost, and in 
a country where there is actually nothing else 
to eat 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE FLATHEAD INDIANS. 

UST at this time another epidemic was 
raging, and not less prolific in its victims 
than the scourge of the country I had 
just escaped from ; the crusade from 
the States across the Rocky Mountains to Oregon, 
by wagons, by ox-carts, and by wheelbarrows, spot- 
ting the prairies and mountains with recent graves, 
and strewing the wayside with carcasses of oxen and 
horses, and broken wagons and abandoned house- 
hold furniture. 

The greater portion of this disastrous and almost 
fanatic pilgrimage crossed the mountains at what 
is known as the " south pass," that is, south of the 
terrible and impassable piles of twice-upheaved rocks 
where the Salmon River Mountain traverses the 
Rocky Mountain range, and over, or through, the 
mountains, descended through the valley of the 
Shoshonee (or Snake) River to the Columbia. 




Flathead Indians. 147 

Learning by some of the most recent of these 
arrivals that the Paunch (Grosventres), a band of 
the Crow Indians, had crossed the mountains north 
of the Salmon River Mountain, and were encamped 
in the Salmon River Valley near its sources, I made 
the instant and desperate resolve to reach them, if 
impossibility were not in the way. 

I asked Caesar how he would like to take a trip 
on horseback and see the Rocky Mountains. 

" Well, dat ar just wat suit me now, zactly. Lor 
me ! you guess you go ? " 

" Yes, if I can get a horse and a couple of good 
mules. This I can't do here, Caesar, but at Fort 
Walla Walla, further up the river, I think it can be 
done." 

Flatheads we were now in the midst of, and for 
the time I had my work to do. The Klatsops, the 
Chinooks, the Clickatats, the Walla Wallas, and the 
Nez Perces and Spokans, constituting the principal 
bands of the Flathead family, I was there in the 
midst of, and had enough to do. Some of these 
flatten the head, and others do not, yet all speak 
the Flathead language, or dialects of it. 

The Flathead tribe, so called from their singular 
practice of flattening the head, is one of the most 
numerous (if not the most numerous) west of the 
Rocky Mountains, occupying the whole country 
about the lower Columbia, including the island of 
Vancouver. It is altogether a canoe race, living in 



148 Flathead Indians. 



a country where there is little else than fish to live 
upon. The tribe is divided into something like 
thirty bands, speaking nearly the same language, 
and generally spoken of (but erroneously) as so 
many different tribes, the names of the principal of 
which I have already mentioned. 




11. 



The strange and unaccountable custom of flat- 
tening the head in this tribe is confined mostly 
to the women, and amongst them it is by no means 
general, and ornamentation, singular as it may seem, 
appears to be the sole object of it. In Plate No. 11 
I have given copies of two of my portraits of women, 
showing the artificial shapes produced by that 



Flathead Indians. 149 

strange custom; and in Plate No. 12 portraits of 
a Flathead chief curiously wrapped in his blanket, 
and his wife, with her infant in its crib (or cradle) 




on her back, undergoing the process of flattening. 
The infant, at its birth, is placed in its cradle dug 
out of a solid log of wood, and fastened down with 
bandages, so that it cannot move, and the frontal 



Flathead Indians. 



process is pressed down by an elastic lever, which 
is tightened daily by strings fastenred to the sides of 
the cradle. The bones of that part of the head, at 
that period, being cartilaginous, are easily pressed 
into that unnatural form, and after two or three 
months of this pressure the required shape is ob- 
tained, which lasts through life. By pressing the 
frontal region back, the head is pressed out on the 
sides to an unnatural extent, as seen in the illus- 
tration (No. n). If this were a natural deformity, 
stultility would undoubtedly be the result ; but as 
it is an artificial deformation, no such result is pro- 
duced,' nor need it to be looked for, as it is only a 
change in the form and position of the mental organs, 
without interfering with their natural functions, The 
evidence of this is, that those with their heads flat- 
tened are found to be quite as intelligent as the 
others in the tribe ; and it would be a monstrous 
supposition to believe that the fathers of families 
and chiefs would subject their infants to a process 
that was to stultify them. 

Near Fort Walla Walla, for the first time in my 
life, I procured a tolerable horse, a stout mule for 
Csesar, and a pack-mule, at a fair and honest price ; 
and in company with three young men who had 
recently arrived from the States, and were going 
back to meet and aid the sick and disabled of their 
party that had been left behind, we started, with 
our faces towards the mountains. 

After five days' march together, their course being 



Crows in Salmon River Valley. i 5 1 



to the right, and through the Snake River Valley, 
we were obliged to part company, and Caesar and 
I, with an Indian guide, took to the left, hugging as 
near as we could the ragged and frightful, and all 
but impassable, southern bank of the Salmon River, 
until, at length, after many days of deep repent- 
ance, we entered the more calm and beautiful mea- 
dows and prairies of the Salmon River Valley. 

Our ride (or rather walk, for we had to walk and 
climb most of the way, leading our horses) was one 
which I deeply regretted from day to day, but 
which I never have regretted since it was finished. 
The eighth day opened to our view one of the most 
verdant and beautiful valleys in the world ; and on 
the tenth a distant smoke was observed, and under 
it the skin-tents, which I at once recognized as of a 
Crow village. 

I was again amongst my old friends, the Crows ! 
men whose beautiful forms and native, gentlemanly 
grace had not been deformed by squatting in canoes, 
nor eyes bridled by scowling on the glistening sun 
reflected on the water, or heads squeezed into wedges, 
or lips stretched around blocks of wood. 

As soon as we were dismounted, and in the midst 
of the crowd around us, I was struck more forcibly 
than ever with the monstrous and pitiable defor- 
mities of man which the peculiar necessities of life 
often drive him to, as seen amongst the squatted, 
paddling tribes of the Amazon, Vancouver, and the 
Columbia coast and river. 



152 Crows in Salmon River Valley. 

It was a pleasure that I cannot describe to find 
myself again amongst mankind as Nature made 
them, the Crows, whom I had long since thought I 
had seen for the last time. 

The Crows (as they are called by their neigh- 
bours), Belantsea, of whom I gave some account 
in the first volume of this work, are probably the 
most unbroken, unchanged part of the original stock 
of North American Man. Their numbers, at the 
time when I was amongst them, in 1832, were about 
10,000, living on the head waters of the Yellow 
Stone River and in the Rocky Mountains. 

From their traditions, which are very distinct, 
they formerly occupied the whole range of the 
Rocky Mountains and the beautiful valleys on 
each side, from the sources of the Saskatchewan 
in the north, and as far south (their traditions say) 
as the mountains continue : that would be to the 
Straits of Panama. 

They say that their people were a great nation 
before the Flood, and that a few who reached the 
summits of the mountains were saved when all the 
tribes of the valleys were destroyed by the waters. 

That they were the most ancient American stock, 
and the unique, original American type, I believe ; 
and that they were the original Toltecs and Aztecs, 
who, history and traditions tell us, poured down 
from the mountains of the north-west, founding the 
cities of Mexico, Palenque, and UxmaL 



Crows in Salmon River Valley. 153 

My portraits of Crows, made in my first series of 
voyages, in 1832, and exhibited in London, from 
their striking resemblance to those on the sculp- 
tured stones of Mexico and Yucatan, excited sug- 
gestions to that effect, by many of my friends ; and 
the first of these, and the most enthusiastic, my 
untiring and faithful friend, Captain Shippard, an 
indefatigable reader amongst the ancient archives of 
the British Museum ; and of my friend the Baron 
de Humboldt, who told me also that the subject 
was one of profound interest to science, and well 
worthy of my further study. 

These reiterated suggestions, added to my own 
intelligence, have kept alive, for many years, my 
anxiety on that subject, and undoubtedly were the 
uncombatible arguments which determined me, 
when hearing, at the Dalles, of a band of Crows 
encamped in the Salmon River Valley, west of the 
Rocky Mountains, to "make shift" (conte qui coute), 
and with Caesar, to throw myself amongst them. 

I have said that "we were there," and whatever 
I found amongst them in customs and contour, and 
traditions, as well as amongst other tribes that I 
visited in more southern latitudes, between them 
and the Straits of Panama, tending to establish the 
belief above advanced, that they were the Toltecs 
and Aztecs of Mexico and Yucatan, will be noticed 
in a subsequent part of this work 

The Crow-village that we were in, consisting of 



154 The Chief, ''Yellow Mocasin" 

some forty or fifty skin tents, had crossed the 
mountains on to the head waters of Salmon River, to 
take and dry salmon, there being no salmon on the 
east side of the Rocky Mountains. 

The chief of the band, a. sub-chief, called the 
" Yellow Mocasin" was a very intelligent man, and 
gave me a clear, and, no doubt, a true account of 
the recent history of the tribe, as he had received 
it from his father and grandfather. According to 
this, the Crows were originally confined to the 
mountains and their valleys, from which their 
enemies of the plains could never dislodge them ; 
but that since horses have made their appearance 
in the plains, a great portion of their people have 
descended into the prairies, where they have been 
cut to pieces by the Sioux, the Blackfeet, and other 
tribes, and their former great strength destroyed. 

I was received with great kindness by these people, 
and told by the chief that I should be welcome, and 
that his young men should watch and guard my 
horses. The incidents here, enough in themselves 
for a small book, must be passed over, for there are 
yet many adventures a-head of us. 

One thing, however, cannot be passed by. Whilst 
seated in the chief's lodge, where there were some 
six or eight men besides the chief, and endeavour- 
ing, as the necessary preliminary in all first inter- 
views with Indians, to make the object of my visit 
distinctly known, I opened the portfolio of cartoon 



u Yellow Mocasiris" Wigwam. 155 

portraits, which all were examining with great 
interest and astonishment, and on turning up the 
fifth or sixth portrait, one of the party gave a 
sudden piercing yelp, and sprang upon his feet and 
commenced dancing in the most violent jumps and 
starts, and vociferating, " Bi-eets-e-cure ! Bi-eets-e- 
cure!'' (the name of the young man), whose portrait 
I had painted at the mouth of the Yellow Stone 
twenty years before, and was now holding up. 

The portrait was recognized by all, and on their 
feet, and darting out of the wigwam, were three or 
four of the part}-, and through the village to where 
the women were drying fish, on the bank of the 
river, and back, re-entered the chief's wigwam, and 
with them, out of breath, and walking as if he was 
coming to the gallows, entered Bi-eets-e-cure (the 
very sweet man). 

I instantly recognized him, and rising up, he took 
about half a minute to look me full in the eyes, 
without moving a muscle or winking, when he 
exclaimed, "how! how!" (yes, yes), and shook me 
heartily by the hand. I took up his portrait, and 
showing it to him, got the interpreter to say to him 
that I had " kept his face clean!" 

The reader can more easily and more correctly 
imagine the pleasurable excitement, and the curious 
remarks amongst the party at this singular occur- 
rence, than I can explain them ; for, not knowing 
their language, I was ignorant of much that passed, 
myself. 



i;6 Crows hi Salmon River Valley. 
*-* s 

"One thing, I'm sua, Massa Catlin," suddenly 
exclaimed Caesar, who had not before opened his 
broad mouth, " I quite sua dat ar man knows you, 
Massa !" 

All eyes were now turned for a moment upon 
Caesar, who was sitting a little back, and evidently 
looked upon by most of the party as some great 
chief, until the interpreter explained that he was my 
servant. 

During this interlude, and which required some 
little exchange of feelings and recollections between 
the "very sweet man' and myself, I had shut the 
portfolio, to begin again where Ave left off ; and pro- 
ceeding again with the portraits, after showing them 
several of their enemies, the Sioux and Blackfeet, 
Ba-da-ah-chon-du (the Jumper), one of the chiefs 
of the Crows, whose portrait also was painted at 
Yellow Stone twenty years before, turned up I All 
recognized him, and Bi-cets-e-cure told them that he 
saw me when I was painting that picture twenty 
years before. 

Through the interpreter, I told them that more 
than 100,000 white people had seen the chief's face, 
and, as they could see, there was not a scratch upon 
it ! The chief then arose upon his feet, and making 
signs for me to rise, embraced me in his arms, and 
each one of the party saluted me in the s'ame affec- 
tionate manner. 

See Ba-da-ah-chon-du (the Jumper, Plate No. 



Crows in Salmon River Valley, 157 

13). His head-dress of war-eagles' quills— his robe 
the skin of a buffalo, with his battles painted on it, 
his lance in his hand, his shield and quiver slung on 




i3- 



his back, his tobacco-sac suspended from his belt, 
and his leggings fringed with scalp-locks, 

In conversation which I had with Bi-eets-e-cure y 
he informed me that the chief Ba-da-ak-ckou-du, 



158 Crows in Salmon River Valley. 

whose portrait we had just seen, was dead — that he 
died soon after I painted his portrait, and many of 
his friends and relations believed that the painting 
of the portrait was the cause of his death ; " But," 
said he, " I told them they were very foolish — that 
I had no fears when mine was painted, "and here I 
am alive, after so many years ! " 

I told them that no man of good sense could see 
any way in which the painting could do them an 
injury, and that amongst the white people we all 
had our portraits made, and it did us no harm. 
They all gave their- assent in a " How, how, how!" 
and the next day I slipped off the " skin," as they 
called it, of two or three of them; and, amongst 
them, and the first, that of the young chief whose 
hospitality I was enjoying. Plate No. 14. 

I painted him at his toilette, as he was letting 
down his long hair and oiling it with bear's-grease, 
which his wife was pouring into his hand from a 
skin bottle ; and she, poor woman, from a custom 
of the country, not to compete with her husband in 
a feature so ornamental, was obliged to have her 
hair cropped close to the head. 

In the first volume of this work I have given a 
more detailed account of this striking peculiarity 
of the Crow tribe, in which there are many men who 
trail two and three feet of their natural hair on the 
ground as they walk. 

Reader, our journey is yet long, and our halts 
must be short, What else transpired during the 



A Crow at his Toilette. 159 

ten days that I remained in the Crow-village must 
await the appearance of a larger work which is in 
progress. 




14. 



The day before I left, a report was brought, by 
one of the Hudson's Bay Company's men, that a 
party of. Blackfeet— their deadly enemies— was 
preparing to march upon them from the north, All, 



160 Salmon River Mountain. 



of course, was excitement and confusion ; and they 
were preparing to move into a defile in the moun- 
tains, where they could protect themselves if at- 
tacked ; and whatever was the result of this move- 
ment I never heard. 

With a faithful guide, who knew the route, recom- 
mended by the chief, we started to cross the Salmon 
River Mountain into the Snake River Valley — a 
pass difficult to traverse, and requiring the most 
desperate resolution. Ravine after ravine, amidst 
the most frowning and defiant rocks of all sizes, 
which had tumbled down from the snow-capped 
summits on either side of us. Our guide entered 
us well into them, and, sleeping with us one night, 
instructed us how to proceed, and left us to our fate, 
returning to his village. 

We had an ample supply of dried salmon for our 
five or six days' march, which was to bring us to 
Fort Hall, one of the Company's fur factories, near 
the source of the Snake River. We might have re- 
turned to the Dalles by the same route by which 
we had come, and escaped the terrible task we were 
now performing, but for two reasons I had for not 
doing it — the first, that in all the travels of my life 
I have had a repugnance to return by the same 
route ; and the second, that I had an unconquerable 
desire to cross this range of Palaeozoic rocks, and 
to examine the strange confusion produced by a 
mountain lifted by a rising mountain. 

This mountain range, running from west to east, 



Salmon River Mountain. 161 



traversing the Rocky Mountains, and becoming the 
" Black Hills" on the Eastern side, is known to geo- 
logists to have been a mountain under the sea before 
the continent of America arose, and to have been re- 
lifted up at the intersection by the Rocky Mountains 
rising underneath at a later date. How sublime ! 
A stupendous mountain with its hidden treasures, 
from the bottom of the sea, lifted up to the heavens 
and crumbling to pieces, is tumbling into the valley 
and ravines below! And what a field for the 
geologist to get at the deepest productions of the 
earth's hidden material! 

Gneiss and granites, from their deepest beds in the 
earth, raised in stupendous mountain piles under the 
sea, and, risen with a continent, have again been 
shoved up by deeper beds of granite underneath, 
until their sub-aqueous, cavern-formed limestones of 
all colours — of snow-white, of green, and blue, and 
grey, and their associated felspathic rocks and mas- 
sive blocks of felspar — are turned out upon their 
tops and tumbled down their sides. 

What a field for geologists, and why are they 
not there ? 

Amongst these immense and never-ending blocks 
I was reading an instructive book, and making 
notes, which Caesar could not understand ; he had 
enough to do to take care of the horses, whilst I 
was sometimes for hours out of his sight and hear- 
ing ; and coming back, and waking him and the 

M 



1 62 Salmon River Mountain. 



mules from their sleep, all I would hear was : 
" Well, Massa Catlin, you bery strange man, dat's 
all I got to say." He was getting sick on dried 
salmon and no excitement ; and our poor animals 
were all but starving to death, there being some- 
times, for miles together, not one solitary blade of 
grass for them to crop. What a time to study 
geology ! 

We had a sort of a path — a track — to follow, which 
we could keep to only with the greatest difficulty. 
The tracks of horses shod convinced me that the 
men of the trading houses were in the habit of 
passing from one trading post to another by it, and 
it was our only confidence that we should sooner 
or later discover the valley of the Snake river. 

This we did on the fifth day ; and even our poor 
and jaded animals neighed and brayed when we 
saw, through a ravine, the blue of the valley, and 
the " Trots Buttes" — three beautiful and stupendous 
natural pyramids — though blue in the distance, 
standing in the centre of it. 

Getting out, and upon the flank of the mountain, 
green grass was in abundance and shady trees ; 
and I spent several hours in revising and re-writing 
my hasty notes on the rocks and the minerals we 
had passed, whilst our poor animals were luxuriat- 
ing, and Caesar was sleeping. 

At a great distance, and before us, where a forest 
of shrubbery seemed evident, a smoke was seen 



Snake River Valley. 163 

rising, which I decided was Fort Hall to which we 
were aiming, and minuting its bearing by my 
pocket compass, we launched off into the (not 
grass, but sand covered) valley towards it. 

We started at noon, and hoped to reach it before 
night. The Trois Buttes, three conical hills of 
granite, and of great height, standing in a group, 
and at many miles distance, were on our right. 
We travelled slow and night overtook us, and we 
encamped, not in sand, but in cinders and pulverized 
pumice, and without vegetation for our horses. 

The valley, though beautiful to look into, like too 
many things in this world, when seen at a distance, 
is anything but beautiful when we get into it. The 
surface is generally without grass and without 
timber, or even bushes, excepting here and there 
bunches of artemisia, and everywhere covered 
with volcanic ashes and pumice, which are wafted 
by the winds; and all roads, and all tracks of living 
beings before us are obliterated before we see them. 

No living animal or fowl is seen, to afford us 
food ; not even a rabbit or a prairie hen ; and the 
tail of our last dried salmon for us, and nothing for 
our poor horses, put us to sleep upon this barren 
and desolate waste. 

Our course was continued in the morning, and 
about noon we came upon the bank of a small 
stream covered with luxuriant grass ; and here we 
were obliged to stop, for our poor animals would 



io4 Emigrants to Oregm. 

have gone no further ; and who could have had the 
heart to push them beyond it ? But we had 
nothing to eat, and our only chance to get anything 
was to lay down and quietly wait till our animals 
were satisfied, and able to earn' us. and then move 
on, which we did ; and a little before sundown we 
approached the patch of timber we had see::, and 
soon after (not Fort Hall, but) the encampment of 
some twenty or twenty-five emigrants from the 
States, who had crossed the Rocky Mountains at 
the South pass, and were on their way to Oregon. 

When we rode up to their tents, or wagons and 
carts (for these were mostly used for tents , they 
seemed as much surprised as ourselves ; and if not 
the first sentence that I pronounced (certainly the 
second was), "Have you got anything to eat?" 
"Well, neighbour," (said one of them, a middle- 
aged man, who stepped forward as spokesman), 
"we are pretty hard up ; our flour has long since 
gin out ; but we have a plenty of hard biscuits, and 
some good salt pork.'' " Don": say any more, my 
dear sir/' said I, "that's enough; we are just 
starving to death." 

" Oh, dear ME," said his tidy and red-cheeked 
wife, as she jumped down from one of the wagons 
and came up to my stirrup, her face beaming with 
sympathy, 11 Dear si?\ if you had come a little 
sooner ! We had a nice pot of boiled beans and 
pork to-day, and I don't know — Sail}'! my dear, 



Emigrants to Oregon. 165 

look into the iron pot and see if any of them beans 
is left!" Sally, without running to look, came to 
her mother, ejaculating, with a sort of a hiccup, 
" Oh yes, mother ; I know there is a heap left ; we 
didn't eat a half on 'em ; and there's a large lot o' 
pork, too !" 

Here my young readers must again imagine (to 
save space), how comfortable Caesar and I were 
made when there was a pot of boiled pork and 
beans all ready, and a plenty of hard biscuits, and 
good grazing for our horses ; and in the midst of 
twenty-five intelligent persons, old and young, 
male and female, with all their traps and accoutre- 
ments, from the State of New Hampshire, on their 
way to a new and unseen home in Oregon. 

What Caesar and I first did was to discuss the 
pork and beans, and how we did it need not be 
described ; and other matters discussed in the 
course of the evening must be brief, if noticed at 
all in this place. 

Thirty-six days before, this party had started 
from Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri river, in 
eight wagons and two carts, drawn by oxen, and 
using no horses. Their wagons, which supported 
hoops covered with sail-cloth, were all made new 
and of great strength, expressly for the purpose. 
Their oxen were shod like horses, to preserve their 
feet, and grain was transported for their food, to 
be used in places where the grass should give out. 



1 66 Horrors of Emigration. 

In rising from the prairies on to the arid plains of 
the mountain regions, the wood of their wagon- 
wheels shrunk, and the tires were loosened ; and 
without smithing utensils their misfortunes became 
irreparable, and all but fatal to their existence. 
Wheels that went to pieces were left by the way- 
side ; wheels were withed and mended as well as 
ingenuity could devise, and changed from axle to 
axle until wagons were left, and at length oxen 
after oxen, as they died, or fell and gave out from 
fatigue which they could no longer endure. And 
when Ave met them, but three of their wagons re- 
mained, and less than half of their oxen were living. 

Substantial food they had transported enough of; 
and their little children, as well as the rest of the 
party, were in good health ; and all, yet in unbroken 
spirits, approaching, with a prospect, their new 
homes. 

They had met that day a half-caste interpreter 
from Fort Hall, to which they had been steering-, 
from whom they learned that the trading post was 
yet twenty miles in advance, which showed me how 
far Csesar and I had mistaken our course in enter- 
ing the valley. 

These people told me that, since they entered 
Sweet River Valley in the mountains, they had 
passed over one hundred and fifty carcasses of oxen 
lying by the wayside ; some partly devoured by 
wolves and bears, and others not in the least de- 



Horrors of Emigration. 167 

caved, though they had been dead for weeks and, 
perhaps, months. Such was the unaccountable and 
almost incredible pilgrimage, in those days, from 
the States to the " promised land" on the Colum- 
bian coast. 

This party, where we found them, had left the 
travelled road for several miles to get grass for their 
cattle, and they assured me that, for fifty miles which 
they had last passed, there was not a blade of grass 
left for poor oxen or horses to live upon ; and, by the 
interpreter they had met, they were informed that, 
such had been the crowd of emigrants over the moun- 
tains, that, for the distance of ten miles around Fort 
Hall, every particle of grass had been exhausted, 
and the people in the fort, as well as their horses, 
were in a state of almost absolute starvation, and 
had notified all emigrants and travellers to keep at 
a distance from them, where they and their animals 
might possibly find something to subsist upon. 

This little caravan started the next morning- on 

o 

their route, in good spirits, leaving Fort Hall on 
their right, and steering for Fort Boissey, another 
trading house, one hundred and forty miles further 
west, towards their destined home. 

Caesar and I " saddled up," and, to their great de- 
light, started in company with them, our destination 
being the same. We were soon on the emigrants' 
road, and both they and we in absolute apprehen- 
sions of losing our animals conveying us, the poor 



i68 



A Snake Indian. 



creatures getting but here and there a bite of short 
grass that had been twenty times bitten by other 
animals before them. 

The stench exhaling from the carcasses of oxen 
and horses that we passed on the wayside became 
sickening and almost unendurable. I did not count, 
but, I believe, that, in the two days, we passed more 
than fifty ; and, in one of these instances, two of 
these poor creatures lay dead in the yoke together ! 
Such was the lamentable fate of these poor and 
faithful beasts ; after dragging man and his effects 
over the vast prairies and arid mountains, a distance 
of 1400 miles, and not even getting their food for it. 

On the second day, the interpreter of whom I 
have spoken overtook us, galloping on a very fine 
horse — a half-caste Snake (or Shoshonee) Indian 
— a rakish looking young man, speaking French, 
English, and several Indian languages ; dressed out 
in all the flaming colours that broadcloths and rib- 
bons could give him, and carrying in his hand a 
first-rate rifle. 

I at once suspected, and soon learned from him, 
that his business was that of galloping about 
amongst the lost, the straggling, and suffering 
parties that were traversing the country at that time, 
guiding them and interpreting for them, and de- 
pending upon their generosity for compensation. 

Learning from him that one day's ride would 
bring us to the great, or "smoky" falls of the 



Snake River Valley. 169 

Snake River, the vicinity of which he told me was 
his native place, and with the whole localities of 
which he was familiar; I made an arrangement with 
him to conduct me there the next day, which he did, 
we having procured several days' provisions of the 
little, and as yet, stout-hearted colony ; and taken 
leave of them, at all events, for a few days. 

They travelled so slow that we could easily cal- 
culate on spending a day or two about the falls, and 
overtake them before they reached the settlements. 
Our ride to the falls took us the most of two days, 
instead of "one," over a sandy and barren waste; 
but, with a guide who knew the way and the modes 
of the country, we felt secure, and rode it with tole- 
rable ease. 

The great, or " smoking/' falls of the Snake River 
may well be classed amongst the greatest natural 
curiosities of the world. Not that they resemble, in 
character or magnitude, the chute of Niagara ; but, 
from a character peculiarly their own, of an awful 
grandeur w T hich strikes the beholder in quite a dif- 
ferent way. 

For a hundred or two miles around, in different 
directions, the country is chiefly as barren a waste 
as the deserts of Arabia. The earth is everywhere 
almost entirely destitute of vegetation, and even of 
birds and insects, and covered with a light and 
moving sand or dust, composed of pulverized 
pumice and volcanic ashes. 



17° The Smoky Falls 

In the midst of this vast plain of desolation we 
discovered, at many miles distance — not a pyramid 
of spray rising, forming and piling away a mass of 
clouds in the heavens, as we see above the fall of 
Niagara — but a chain, of several miles in length, of 
jets of spray, rising apparently out of the level ground, 
not unlike the smoke of the camp-fires of an army 
of men ; and, approaching it, we can scarcely realize 
its origin until we are quite upon the brink, and the 
awful abyss, with all its grandeur, is beneath us ; 
and, even then, it is but here and there that we can 
approach near enough on the sand-covered brink, 
with no tree or rock to cling to, to catch more than 
a partial view of the scene before us. 

Instead of looking upwards, as we usually do, 
to see a waterfall, or of seeing it leaping off from 
the rock on which we are standing, all is here below 
us, at the bottom of an awful chasm, and the very 
surface of each successive fall is several hundred feet 
below us. 

The term " Great Fall," and which has been 
known for more than half a century, is applied to a 
succession of leaps which the river makes within {he 
space of three or four miles, dashing and foaming 
from side to side, in a zig-zag channel cut in the 
solid rock, varying from six hundred to eight hun- 
dred feet in width, with precipitous— and, much of 
the way, perpendicular— walls of basaltic rocks 
on either side, from one hundred and fifty to two 



of Snake River, i 7 1 

hundred feet in height, and with here and there an 
avalanche or graded way, where, with great fatigue, 
and with somewhat of danger, we can descend to 
the bottom of the chasm, and, at the water's edge, 
behold with wonder and enchantment the spirit of 
these wild scenes. 

Owing to the zig-zag shape of the channel, the 
views from these points are exceedingly limited ; 
but the frantic rage (or play, for it seems to par- 
take of both) of the leaping, bounding, and foaming 
torrent, dashing alternately from wall to wall, with 
the overhanging rocks on either side, furnish for 
the artist's pencil scenes of spirit and wildness which 
I never have been able to' see anywhere else, and 
which no imagination could create. 

Comparatively but a small portion of the cataract 
can be viewed from below, owing to the few chances 
there are of descending to the river's bed ; and 
where we descend Ave are obliged to retrace our 
steps, as we can neither follow the shore nor cross 
the stream. 

From the top of the wall, with great fatigue, and 
with the guidance of our good cicerone, I was 
enabled to see the whole extent of this wonderful 
scene. Owing to the depth of the chasm, when 
looking down from the top of the wall, the water 
seemed to be running nearly on a level, though its 
tremendous leaps and bounds, as well as the corre- 
sponding decline of the brink of the opposite wall, 



172 



Snake River Falls, 



gave us something like an estimate of descent in 
the various chictes. 

The trappean bed through which this wonderful 
gorge is cut slopes to the west, and as the heights 
of the walls on either side are generally about the 
same, the gradual descent of the summit surface, 
for the distance of four miles, would indicate a near 
estimate of the descent of the river in that distance ; 
and judging as well as I could from these premises, 
without the use of instruments, I was led to believe 
that the whole descent in four miles was something 
like three or four hundred feet. 

I have seen some statements, recently made pub- 
lic, of travellers who reported the great perpendicular 
fall of Snake River to be 198 feet ; " thirty-five feet 
higher than the fall of Niagara, and the volume 
of water quite equal to that of Niagara River." 
This statement is certainly quite Quixotic, and de- 
mands contradiction, if it were only for the benefit 
of school-boys' education. 

The Snake River has its extreme source but 
about 150 miles above these falls, and has no large 
tributaries above the falls to swell it ; therefore the 
statement that this volume of water is equal to that 
of the Niagara is necessarily incorrect. There is one 
point of view from which, looking up the stream, 
four or five successive leaps are seen in the dis- 
tance, so ranged one above the other as to appear 
at the first glance to be one entire fall of great 



Snake River Falls. 173 

height ; but from other points these are seen to be 
separated by intervening distances of a quarter or 
half a mile. 

In all the cataracts which compose what is called 
the great or " smoking" fall on the Snake River, 
however terrific and picturesque they are, there is 
not amongst them, I should think, a perpendicular 
leap of more than forty feet. And the Columbia 
River at the Dalles, 400 miles below, after uniting 
the Snake and Salmon Rivers with the north fork 
of the Columbia, contains, from the nearest estimate 
I could make, but about one-fifth of the volume of 
water that passes over the fall of Niagara ; and the 
Snake River, at the great (or smoking) falls, probably 
not more than one-twelfth or one-fifteenth part. 

Few travellers who visit the fall of Niagara are 
aware of its real magnitude ; no subject on earth 
more completely deceives the human eye. In 1830, 
I spent six months at the falls, making a survey 
and estimates for a model ; and even then I was in 
ignorance of its real magnitude until I went to 
Black Rock Ferry, twenty-five miles above, where 
I ascertained by measurement the width of the river 
to be seven-eighths of a mile, and its average depth 
eighteen feet, and its surface movement four and a- 
half miles per hour; which, as the river at that 
place glides over the smooth surface of a level rock, 
would give a mesne movement of four miles per 
hour. Such a moving mass of water, at the rate of 



174 Snake Indians. 

a man under a fast walk/ is easily contemplated; 
and with pen, ink, and paper, one can soon bring 
into cubic feet and avoirdupois weight, the quantity 
of water per minute, per hour (and per annum, if 
figures can define it), which pours through the 
rapids at Niagara, and leaps down a precipice of 
163 feet. 

Such is the might, and such the magnitude of 
Niagara, which, amongst waterfalls (like this little 
book amongst Indian books), still will stand with- 
out a rival on the globe ! 

After having examined all the features of the 
great falls, and made my sketches, we laid our 
course for Fort Boissey, following the course of the 
river for many miles, which still ran through a deep 
and rocky canon, and from the summits of its banks 
we had often views of its deep-bedded and foaming 
waters, still dashing amongst rocks and down preci- 
pices, with a continuous wall on either side, of 
several hundred feet in height. 

Near a ford which we were to make, we met an 
encampment of Shoshonee (or Snake) Indians, 
about thirty in number, and being all men, and 
without women, I supposed them to be a war party ; 
but our guide said no — that they had no enemies 
near them to fight, and had been down to Fort 
Boissey to trade. He knew them all — was amongst 
his relatives, and introduced us without any dificulty. 

I had previously seen but a specimen or two of 



Snake Indians. 175 

this tribe, and when meeting face to face this fine 
and elegant troupe of young men, I said to myself, 
" These are Crows!" The impression was instant 
and complete. I then said to our interpreter that 
these people resembled the Crows, whom I had just 
been amongst. " Well they may/' said he. " The 
Crows are our friends and relations, and we know 
them all." I said, " then you are Toltecs." This 
I could not make him understand, as he never had 
heard of Mexico or Yucatan ; but as the Snake 
Indians occupy a great portion of the mountains 
lying between the Crows and Mexico, it made a 
strong impression on my retina, as regards the 
origin of the Toltec and Aztec tribes, which history 
says poured down from the mountains of the North- 
West into Mexico and Yucatan. 
, These handsome young men had been playing a 
desperate game of ball at Fort Boissey, and having 
their ball-sticks and balls with them, were proud to 
show us what they could do with them. The ground 
was not good, but from the beautiful catches and 
throws which they made, I consider them quite a 
match for the Sioux or the Choctaws, and their 
rackets are formed much in the same way. 

We spent a day very pleasantly with them, Caesar 
showing the pictures, and I painting three of the 
young men, their names — Yau-nau-shaw-pix y Naw- 
en-saw-pic (he who runs up hill), On-da-wout (smooth 
bark). 



176 Snake Indians. 

All objected to being painted until the portrait 
of the Crow chief, Ba-da-ah-cho7i-du, was shown 
them ; they all recognized him, and the gallant 
little fellow, " Yau-nau-shaw-pix" then sprang upon 
his feet, and throwing a beautiful Crow robe over 
his shoulder exclaimed, " There ! you may paint 
me — /am not afraid." 

The rest then all agreed to be painted, but I 
selected the three named above, and got the rest to 
wait until I should come again. 

We parted, but not without regret, from our 
friends the Snakes (not Rattlesnakes), who went 
on their way to their village, near the base of the 
mountains, and commenced our winding and dan- 
gerous descent of some hundreds of feet, to the 
river shore, where wew r ere to make the ford. There 
was no other place for a great many miles, where it 
was possible to descend to the bed of the river, or 
to ford it if we could get to it. 

I had engaged our gay and dashing chevalier to 
lead us safely across the river, and to put us fairly 
in the track, for the frontier settlements, instead of 
Fort Boissey, which I felt a confidence in reaching 
from that place, without a guide, there being a well- 
beaten road to follow. 

Down at the bottom of the terrible gulf, the 
river, with its transparent waters, was smoothly, but 
rapidly gliding along before us. The next thing was 
« to cross it, and the thing next to that, to reach the 



Fording Snake River. 17; 

opposite shore above, a huge point of perpendicular 
rocks projecting into the stream, and below which 
our interpreter said there was no chance of getting 
out. 

The river here was some eighty or a hundred 
yards in width, with a pebbly bottom ; and from the 
various contortions of the surface of the water, evi- 
dently of unequal bottom, and full of bars. ' Our 
guide explained to us, as well as he could, the cir- 
cuitous route we were to take, after we should get 
into the stream, not to fall into the troughs and 
currents ; and to show us the course, dashed in and 
led the way. 

We stood and watched him closely, and seeing 
the water nowhere higher than his stirrups, our ap* 
prehensions were all at an end. He mounted about 
half way up the opposite cliff, and dismounting 
from his horse, sat overlooking our movements. We 
had but one fear, and that was for our pack-mule, 
which was a little creature ; and Caesar, a tremen- 
dous tall fellow, said, " Massa Catlin, I radder wade,, 
and den I take 'Nelly' moa safe." 

"Well," said I, "Caesar, do so— give me the 
portfolio (which I slung on my own back), and I 
will lead your mule when I see you and Nelly safe 



over. 



He handed me his pantaloons, and was on his 
way, his rifle in his left hand and his donkey in the 
other, whilst I was sitting on my horse and watch- 



178 Cczsar droicnitig! ♦ 

ing the result. When about the middle of the 
river, I observed they were at a halt; the mule was 
pulling one way and he the other. Instead of the 
laso around its neck, he was leading it by a halter 
with a rawhide headstall, somewhat in the shape of 
a bridle. After mutual and stubborn pulling in this 
way for a minute or so. I saw Caesar, who had been 
standing up to his navel in the water, fall suddenly 
back, and quite under the surface of the water ! 
The bridle had slipped from the animal's head, and 
they at once took different directions. 

Caesar, it seems, falling backwards, was thrown 
from the shoal water into a deeper channel, where 
the current was stronger, and off from his feet, he 
was rapidly drifting away, his head and his hands 
now and then above the water ! 

I instantly threw my portfolio and my rifle to 
the ground, and dropping the rein of the mule I 
was holding, I plied my spurless heels with all the 
muscle that was in me. to the sides of my slow and 
stubborn " Rozenante " — and thought, " Oh (not my 
' kingdom,' but) my 4 collection,' for a horse ! for 
1 Charley *' for my ' Ancient CtiarleyT" But I be- 
lieve my convulsive kicks and blows frightened my 
poor beast into untried leaps and bounds, which 
soon passed me over the bar of shoal water into 
swimming depth, where Caesar, ahead of me, and 
not able to swim, was paddling with his hands, and 
keeping his head, most of the time, above the water. 



Ccesar saved. j jg 

He saw me coming, and I hailed him— "Hold 
on, my brave fellow— you are safe." 

"Well, de Lord o' massie ! " I heard him ex- 
claim, 

My horse was all below the water but its head 
and tail, and I was down to my armpits. There 
was but one way— and as I got near to him I said 
— " Now mind !— as I pass by you, don't touch me, 
but seize my horse by the tail, and hold on !" 

I passed him, and looking back over my right 
shoulder and seeing nothing of him, I instantly 
exclaimed, Oh, mercy ! he's lost ! "—when added 
to that, without a period or a comma— 

"Dat ar berry good, now I guess I go ashoa ! " 
And looking over my left shoulder, with an aston- 
ishment that nearly threw me from my saddle, I 
saw he had both hands clenched to the tail of his 
own riding mule, which, it seems, had plunged in 
when I threw down its bridle, and without my ob- 
serving it, had swam by my side, and a little back 
of me, to the rescue of poor Caesar, who it was now 
pulling to the shore ! I reined my horse towards 
the shore, and Caesar, holding on, was gliding alon°- 
by the side-of me — 

"Well, Massa Catlin, dis ar beat all ; I no feas 
now !" 

Our horses' feet were now getting hold on the 
bottom, and at that moment came down the shore 
at full gallop, and dashing through the water, our 



1 80 Safe across. 

faithful guide, who, thoughtless of any accident, had 
placed himself too far from us sooner to lend a 
helping hand. 

We were all upon the beach, and safe, and our 
little pack-mule, with all our baggage soaked, had 
swam to the same shore from which it started, but 
half a mile below, and was standing in a nook of 
rocks, from which it did not know how to escape. 

Our demi-" Snake " dashed into the river to re- 
cover it, and I hailed him — pointing to my rifle and 
portfolio, left on the beach. He soon had them 
strapped on his back, and the donkey in his hand ; 
and, with little difficulty and without fear or danger, 
was soon with us. 

" Now," said I, " Caesar, we are all saved, and 
there is but one thing that I see missing, that is the 
old minie." 

Caesar, whatever might have been his education, 
or want of education, was a very moral and a reli- 
gious man — a Catholic ; and in all my travels with 
him, under the hundreds of instantaneous excite- 
ments and vexations which we had met together, I 
never heard him use a profane or an indecent word ; 
but his sudden exclamations were, "De Lord o' 
massie ! Oh, de goodness me ! My soul alive ! " &c ; 
and on this occasion, such was his attachment to 
the minie rifle, "Well, as I am a libbin being, I 
guess, Massa Catlin, dat ar gun is neber seen no 
moa ! I no recollection ; but wen I slip in de deep 



Snake River Canon. r 8i 
water, I guess de minny has slip from my hands 
widout my know it ; I berry sorry." 

The fact luckily was, that the eyes of our guide 
had been upon it when it slipped from Caesar's hand 
and marking the place where it sank, he was now 
wading his horse to the spot, and with his eagle eye 
was scanning the bottom through the clear water 
and ; after wading and then swimming awhile, he ? ave 

that he had discovered it. He instantly rose, with 
his feet upon his horse's back, and making a plunge 
headforemost, brought it up; and then, not swim- 
ming for his horse, made his horse swim to him, for 
ne had a long laso of raw hide of ten yards in 
length fastened around its neck, and its other end 
m his hand. 

"Well, now, dat ar de mose wondeful man I 
eber saw yet ! I neber see de like afoa ! " 

There is no sunshine in the deep and gloomy 
canon of thls part of ^ riyer . J 7 

avalanching cliff, and fairly on its top and in the 
sun, our soaking packs were spread out to dry. We 
all took a lunch and a sleep, and our animals found 
a little grass to regale upon. 

Our guide gave us instructions for the ride that 
Caesar and I were to make alone ; and, putting into 
his Dullet-pouch what he acknowledged as a liberal 
compensation for his services, he galloped off in- 
tending to overtake his party of Snake warriors 
during the day. 



1 82 Selling our Horses. 

In our course, after riding a mile or two, I halted, 
and said to Caesar, " Have you got your rifle dry 
and in order?" 

" Yes, massa ; and loaded." 

« Then," said I, pointing to a bunch of wild sage 
at a little distance, " go and fetch that rabbit ; 
it is a very large one, and has set down behind 
those weeds. Be careful, and don't touch anything 
but its head." % 

" Yes, Massa ; you hold de mule." 

This rabbit, the first fresh meat we had had for a 
long time, came in admirably well with our salt 
pork, and was the first creature of the kind that we 
had seen since we left the coast of the Pacific. 

Six or eight days of hard work, and fording the 
Snake River at two different places on our way— 
(but why should I stop to narrate more particularly 
here ?)— brought us to the border settlements near 
Fort Walla Walla. I had then a horse and two 
mules to dispose of— an affair that, as well as buy- 
ing, I have always approached with a displeasure ; 
for, until now, in all my travels, when I have wanted 
to buy horses, I have been " a little too late ; there 
were a plenty here for sale a few days since, but the 
last of them have been bought up and taken away." 
And, when wishing to sell, " They would have 
brought you a good price a little back, sir ; but so 
many have been brought in lately, that they are a 
mere drug now. You may be able to give them 



A Good Bargain. 183 

away, but I am not sure that you will even get a 
thankie for that." 

However, in this instance, I was not long in look- 
ing up Thompson, the man of whom I bought the 
animals for my campaign to the Salmon River 
Valley. I said to him, "What will you give? they 
are all in tolerable trim, and as valuable as when I 
bought them." I expected him to name about 
half the price I had given him for them, and I 
was quite ready to have taken it. 

" Well, I know the animals, and I don't care to 
give you the same that you gin me for them." 

"Agreed," said I ; and, having the money in his 
pocket, the affair was soon ended. I said, " Thomp- 
son, you are a very prompt dealer, and I like to 
deal with such men." . 

" Well," said he, " I'm glad you are satisfied, sir. 
You see, sir, there's just now sich a crowden into 
the diggins, that they've taken up the last crittur ; 
and, notwithstandin' that, horses is about at a stand- 
still, but mules has riz." 

He got about double the price for his " critturs " 
an hour afterwards. Thev went to the " dip-gins 

J Ob ' 

and Caesar and I steamed from Portland to Cali- 
fornia. 



CHAPTER V. 



CALIFORNIA. 

HE reader must not think that because 
we were again in California, we were at 
home, and our Indian peregrinations 
finished. In California we were on the 
wrong side of the mountains ; and, as I hinted in a 
former chapter, that though a straggling Apachee 
was once in a while seen there, better specimens of 
that interesting tribe would probably be seen on our 
return. 

The Apachee Indians, at this time probably the 
most powerful and most hostile tribe in America, 
hunt over and claim a vast extent of country within 
the Mexican lines, through the province of New 
Mexico, and extending northward nearly to the 
Great Salt Lake, and westward quite to the Pacific 
Ocean, embracing the silver mines of Sonora, and, 
until quite lately, the gold mines of California, 

At this last point continued struggles, with much 




Apachee Indians. 185 

bloodshed, have resulted from the claims of white 
people to the gold mines on the Sacramento River, 
and in and east of the Sierra Nevada. These 
Indians, met by the California miners, are known 
by various names, and so the Indians from San 
Francisco to St. Diego, and the peninsula of Lower 
California, though they are but bands of the great 
family of Apachees, speaking dialects of the 
Apachee language. 

The aggregate of this great tribe, when counted 
altogether, is something like 30,000 ; and the tra- 
veller who only meets a few of their border bands, 
or the gold-digger who sees only those bands on 
whose rights he is trespassing, gets but a partial 
knowledge of their real numbers, or of their actual 
strength. 

I learned from one of their chiefs, the " Spanish 
Spur," that they could muster 8000 men, well 
mounted, and equipped in the same manner as a 
war party of 300, which I saw him review. This 
gallant fellow had gained his laurels in his battles 
with the Mexican troops on the Mexican frontier ; 
and his name, from a pair of huge spurs which he 
often wore as trophies, taken from the heels of 
a Spanish officer whom he had killed in single 
combat. 

The greater portion of this tribe are strictly 
migratory, changing the sites of their villages 
several times in the course of the year. And to 



J 86 Apachee Indians. 

reach the village of this chiefs band, at present 
some thirty miles north of the Ghila, the voyageur 
should cross the Rocky Mountains from Santa Fe, 
taking the " Pony Express" route, or start, as 
Caesar and I did, from Santa Diego, on the Pacific 
Coast, with a strong mule under him, and a light 
mule to carry his packs, and ride to La Paz, on the 
Rio Colorado, and thence to the great village of 
the Ghila Apachees — north bank of the Ghila, some 
sixty or eighty miles from La Paz, and thence cross 
the mountains to Santa Fe. 

The Apachees, like the Snakes, are a part of the 
Great Crow or Toltec family. As with the Snakes, 
from a wandering specimen or two I was not struck ; 
but looking about me in the centre of the tribe, I 
was instantly impressed with the conviction of the 
relationship, and unity of type which I was regularly 
tracing from the Belantsea (or Crow) to the moun- 
tains of Mexico. 

Like the Crows, their tradition is, that "their 

tribe is the father of all the existing races that 

seven persons only were saved from the Deluge by 
ascending a high mountain, and that these seven 
multiplied and filled again the valleys with popula- 
tions ; and that those who built their villages in the 
valleys were very foolish, for there came a great 
rain, which filled the valleys with water, and they 
were again swept off." 

The Apachees in Mexico, being mostly in the 



Making Flint Arrow-Heads, 187 

vicinity of the Catholic missions, have made some 
progress in civilization, and are clad in pontchos, 
in leggings and tuniques of cotton-stuffs or of bark, 
and broad-brimmed hats of grass, of Spanish manu- 
facture. In the province of New Mexico, and the 
vicinity of the Ghila, and the mountains of the 
North-East, they are dressed in skins, when dressed 
at all, and in their costumes and weapons bear a 
strong resemblance to the Comanches. 

Their manufacture of flint arrow and spear heads, 
as well as their bows of bone and sinew, are equal, 
if not superior, to the manufactures of any of the 
tribes existing ; and their use of the bow from their 
horses' backs whilst running at full speed, may vie 
with the archery of the Sioux or Shyennes, or any 
of the tribes east of the Rocky Mountains. 

Like most of the tribes west of, and in the Rocky 
Mountains, they manufacture the blades of their 
spears and points for their arrows, of flints, and also 
of obsidian, which is scattered over those volcanic 
regions west of the mountains ; and, like the other 
tribes, they guard as a profound secret the mode 
by which the flints and obsidian are broken into the 
shapes they require. 

Their mode is very simple, and evidently the only 
mode by which those peculiar shapes and delicacy 
of fracture can possibly be produced ; for civilized 
artizans have tried in various parts of the world, 
and with the best of tools, without success in copy- 
ing them. 



1 88 Making Flint Arroto-Heads. 

Every tribe has Its factory, in which these arrow- 
heads are made, and in those, only certain adept, 
are able or allowed to make them, for the use of 
the tribe. Erratic boulders of flint are collected 
(and sometimes brought an immense distance) and 
broken with a sort of sledge-hammer made 'of a 
rounded pebble of horn-stone, set in a twisted withe 
holding the stone, and forming a handle. 

The flint, at the indiscriminate blows of the 
sledge, is broken into a hundred pieces, and such 
flakes selected as, from the angles of their fracture 
and thickness, will answer as the basis of an arrow- 
head ; and in the hands of the artizan they are 
shaped into the beautiful forms and proportions 
which they desire, and which are to be seen in most 
oi our museums. 

The master workman, seated on the ground lays 
one of these flakes on the palm of his left hand 
holding it firmly down with two or more fingers of 
the same hand, and with his right hand, between 
the thumb and two fore-fingers, places his chisel (or 
punch) on the point that is to be broken oft": and a 
co-operator (a striker) sitting in front of him with 
a mallet ot very hard wood, strikes the chisel (or 
punch) on the upper end, flaking the flint off on the 
under S1 de, below each projecting point that is 
struck. The flint is then turned and chipped in the 
same manner from the opposite site ; and so turned 
and chipped until the required shape and dimensions 



Flint Arrow-Heads. 189 

are obtained, all the fractures being made on the 
palm of the hand. 

In selecting a flake for the arrow-head, a nice 
judgment must be used, or the attempt will fail : a 
flake with two opposite parallel, or nearly parallel, 
planes is found, and of the thickness required for the 
centre of the arrow-point The first chipping reaches 
near to the centre of these planes, but without quite 
breaking it away, and each chipping is shorter and 
shorter, until the shape and the edge of the arrow- 
head are formed. 

The yielding elasticity of the palm of the hand 
enables the chip to come off without breaking the 
body of the flint, which would be the case, if they 
were broken on a hard substance. These people 
have no metallic instruments to work with, and the 
instrument (punch) which they use I was told was 
a piece of bone ; but on examining it, I found it to 
be a substance much harder, made of the tooth 
(incisor) of the sperm-whale, or sea lion, which are 
often stranded on the coast of the Pacific. This 
punch is about six or seven inches in length, and one 
inch in diameter, with one rounded side and two 
plane sides; therefore presenting one acute and two 
obtuse angles, to suit the points to be broken. 

This operation is very curious, both the holder 
and the striker singing, and the strokes of the mallet 
given exactly in time with the music, and with a 
sharp and rebounding blow, in which, the Indians 



1 90 Apachees. 

tell us, is the great medicine (or mystery) of the ope- 
ration, 

The bows also of this tribe, as well as the arrow- 
heads, are made with great skill, either of wood, and 
covered on the back with sinew or of bone, said to be 
brought from the sea-coast, and probably from the 
sperm-whale. These weapons, much like those of 
the Sioux and Comanches, for use on horseback, 
are short, for convenience of handling, and of great 
power, generally of two feet and a half in length, 
and their mode of using them in war and the chase 
is not surpassed by any Indians on the continent. 

In Plate No. 14* are copies of three of my por- 
traits made in their great village — (a), the chief, 
"Spanish Spur" wrapped in a beautiful buffalo-robe, 
with his battles painted on it ; (b). Nah-quot-se-o 
("the Surrounder"); (c). Nic-war-ra (" f th| Horse- 
catcher"), two distinguished warriors, in war cos- 
tume and war-paint, armed, and ready for battle. 

We remained several days in this village, and 
found abundance of curious customs and things for 
our amusement ; and on the da}' before we left we 
had the luck to witness an excitement of curious 
interest, and which might, with propriety, be called 
44 Tir-national." 

Much like the Sioux and Comanches, this tribe 
are all mounted, and generally on good and fleet 
horses, and with their simple bows and arrows, from 
their horses' backs, while at full speed, they slay 



" Tir-Nationair t gt 
their animals for food, and contend with their 
enemies in mortal combat. With their short bows, 
which have been described, as they have but a few 
yards to throw their arrows (the rapidity of their 
horses overcoming space), their excellency 'in archery 
depends upon the rapidity with which they can get 
their arrows upon the string and off, and the accu- 
racy with which the\- can throw them whilst their 
horses are at full speed. Their practice at this 
is often and very exciting, and certainly more pic- 
turesque than rifle-shooting of volunteers in the 
educated world. 

For this day's sport, which is repeated many 
times in the year, a ground is chosen on the 
prairie, level and good for running, and in a semi- 
circle are made ten successive circular targets in 
the ground by cutting away the turf, and making 
a sort of "bulls-eye" in the centre, covered with 
pipe-clay, which is white. Prizes are shot for, and 
judges are appointed to award them. Each warrior, 
mounted, in his war costume and war paint, and 
shoulders naked, and shield upon his back, takes 
ten arrows in his left hand with his bow, as if c 0 ino- 
into battle, and galloping their horses around in a 
circle of a mile or so, under full whip, to get them 
at the highest speed, thus pass in succession the ten 
targets, and give their arrows as they pass (Plate 
No. 15). 

The rapidity with which their arrows are placed 
upon the string and sent is a mystery to the by- 



192 



Tir- National" 



stander, and must be seen to be believed. No re- 
peating arms ever yet constructed are so rapid, nor 
any arm, at that little distance, more fatal. Each 
arrow, as it flies, goes with a yelp, and each bow is 
bent with a " wuhgh !" which seems to strain its 
utmost sinew, and every muscle of the archer. 

This round and its scoring done, a little rest, and 
the same strife repeated. And after the tenth 
round, when each warrior's arrows have been 
claimed by his private mark in their feather, and 
the scoring done, the stakes and honours (not 
medals) are awarded, and a feast is given to the 
contending archers. I have seen " tirs-national" 
and " tirs-z>//OTiational," but amongst them all, 
nothing so picturesque and beautiful as this. 

Taking leave of the great Apachee village, our 
little party (now consisting of two Santa Fe traders 
—acquainted with the route — two brothers Gleeson, 
of Texas, Csesar, and myself) laid its course for the 
" Santa Fe Pass," in the Rocky Mountains, un- 
known at that time as the " Pony Express" route, 
being, twelve years ago, but known to Kitt Carson 
and other guides in the habit of conducting parties 
through those dark and dreary solitudes. 

The first mountain passed, in a beautiful valley 
we were in another Apachee village ; and another 
mountain passed, w T e found another village of 
Apachees ; and fifteen days of riding, of walking 
and leading, and prying and lifting on sides of 



Crossing the Rocky Mountains. 193 

hills, on avalanches of snow and mud,, and through 
ravines, and in the beds of roaring and dashing 
torrents, with overhanging rocks, and gloomy hem- 
locks and pines, we crept out of, and began de- 
scending, the eastern slopes of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, with the Spanish town of Santa Fe a great 
way ahead of us, and in the valley near it, the Rio 
del Norte (if we should ever get to it), an easy and 
safe highway to the Gulf of Mexico- 
Descending from the base of the mountains into 
the plains, and rising out of a deep ravine, which 
we had followed for some miles, we came instantly, 
and without a moment's warning, on to a group of 
human beings, lying mostly stretched upon the 
grass, in a sunny place, without fire, and apparently 
seeking the warmth of the sun. Nothing could 
surpass the expressions of astonishment and fear 
exhibited on their faces when they arose, and see- 
ing the inutility of trying to escape, they were, with 
uplifted hands, imploring for mercy, as we were 
all mounted and armed, and white men, their 
enemies. 

The little party, about twenty, were all women 
and children but two, who were old men, and rheuma- 
tic, and were almost unable to walk. From our signs 
they soon saw that we did not wish to harm them ; 
and riding up to them, we saw that they had not a 
weapon of any sort with them, and, from their 
haggard looks and signs, that they were in a state 

O 



194 A Pitiable -Group. 

of starvation. We dismounted, and one of our 
Santa F e companions, who understood something 
of the Apachee language, learned from them that 
they were the wives and children of a little village 
of Apachees that had been a few days before de- 
stroyed, and all their warriors killed, by a large 
army of white soldiers, after many terrible battles 
—that they had fled so far, and had nothing to live 
upon but roots from the ground, and no one to hunt 
for them— that the whole country to the north and 
the east was full of white soldiers, and that the 
whole Indian race were being killed off! 

This was the first knowledge Ave had of a border 
war that it seems was then raging between the 
United States dragoons and volunteers, and the 
Apachees, united with the Yutahs, their allies ; and 
from which we drew the instant inference of the 
danger we were facing in moving further in the 
direction of Santa Fe ! 

We had no alternative but to leave those poor 
and helpless and pitiable objects, with their little 
children, as we found them, dividing with them our 
provisions, which were then running low, and laying 
our plans to save ourselves in .the best way we 
could. I gave to one of the old men part of a box 
of lucifer matches I had, and showed him how to 
make fire with them, to warm their children by, for, 
from the snowy atmosphere from the mountains,' 
the weather was very cold there ; he thanked me 



Meeting Indian Messengers, 195 

as he took them, but said, " to make a smoke 
would be our certain destruction !" They all came 
up and shook hands with us, with the pitiful " Ya, 
ya," as we were mounting our horses ; and with 
tears in our eyes, I believe all felt as I exclaimed, 
" Would to God that we could save those poor 
creatures !" 

Our trail leading to the north-east, right into 
the hostile ground, was now a dangerous one, and 
I said to our Santa Fe companions, " Is it possible 
that these are Apachee Indians, and that a nation 
of Apachees is living on the east side of the moun- 
tains ?" "Most assuredly, sir," said the Santa Fe 
gentlemen,—" the Jiccarilla Band, and half a dozen 
other bands ; they are everywhere, and the greatest 
set of thieves and rogues in the world." 

Our course was towards Santa Fe, but we rode 
in trembling and doubt; and a couple of hours 
after we left the group of women and children, 
whilst passing through a narrow and rocky defile, 
two dashing and naked Indians on high-mettled 
horses plunged into our view and in our path, some 
forty or fifty rods ahead of us. They halted for a 
moment, and evidently were alarmed, seeing us all 
with our rifles in our hands. There was no escape, 
except by retreat, which they seemed unwilling to 
attempt. We all agreed to move on without 
changing our course or halting; and they, no 
doubt discovering from our costumes and our pack- 



196 News of Indian War. 

mules that we were a party of travellers, and not 
soldiers, advanced slowly, lowering their rifles, and 
we did the same, and made the signs of friendship 
at the same time. 

We met and shook hands, and the foaming state 
of their horses showed us at once that they were 
riding on an express, the object of which we sus- 
pected, and our Santa Fe companions soon drew 
the same from them, and, also, that the whole 
country to the north-east was in a state of the 
most bloody warfare, that the country was filled 
with soldiers, and that several hundreds of the 
Jiccarilla Apachees and Yutahs had already been 
killed, and their villages burned, and that they 
two, one an Apachee and the other a Yutah, were 
on an express to the great Apachee villages west of 
the mountains, to call for reinforcements. Their 
halt with us was very short, and they rode off, 
suggesting to us very distinctly that the course we 
were pursuing was in a very dangerous direction. 
On emerging from this mountain defile, we struck 
upon a strong trail leading to the south-east, which 
was known to lead to St. Diego, a small village on 
the bank of the Del Norte. 

Here, from the intelligence obtained from the 
two unexpected interviews we had just had, a sort 
of council of war was held, in which it was decided 
that the two Santa Fe traders and the elder Glee- 
son would continue on their route to Santa Fe, 



Council of War. 197 

and run all the risks of meeting the Apachee 
and Yutah war parties ; and that Csesar and I, who 
had no particular desire to see Santa Fe, should 
take the trail leading to St, Diego, and with us 
the younger Gleeson, who, like ourselves, was 
destined for Matamoras, at the mouth of the Rio 
del Norte. 1 

Our tracks here diverged ; the one leading to 
Santa Fe tending to the north-east, and ours to the 
south-east Ours was but an Indian trail, and dif- 
ficult to follow, and was still over mountains, through 
valleys, and across rivers and swamps ; and yet we 
kept it, not learning from any landmark, or from 
any human being, whether one day or one week 
would bring us to the bank of the Rio Grande, and 
knowing only by my faithful and never-failing little 
pocket-compass that we were advancing in the 
right direction. 

Impressions are daily and hourly made in rides 
through such vast and dreary solitudes as these, 
that are never effaced from memory ; and one, at 
the end of our first day's march, that was curious 



1 After reaching the frontier settlements I learned that a 
most relentless and bloody war had been waged for several 
months past between the United States forces and the 
Apachee and Yutah Indians ; that Lieutenant St. Vrain and 
Colonel Fontleroy, with large forces, had destroyed a great 
many of the Apachees, and that our position had been one 
of great danger. 



198 Ccesar and Grizzly Bears. 

enough for narration. On a little plateau of a few 
rods in breadth, covered with grass, and near the 
bank of a small stream, with a tremendous and 
dreary forest of rocks and pines behind us, we had 
bivouacked at sundown, and for the night. 

Gleeson had taken the lasos off the animals, and 
gone down a little descent, nearer the stream, where 
the grass was more abundant and fresher for the 
horses. Caesar had collected dried 'wood and made 
a rousing fire, and was boiling the pot, whilst I, at 
a distance of ten or fifteen rods from him, seated 
on the bank of the stream, and with my back 
towards him, was making a sketch of the pic- 
turesque landscape before me. "My soul alive! 
wat you want dar?" suddenly exclaimed Caesar; 
and turning round, I saw him on one hand and 
one knee, by his fire, swinging around and over his 
head a flaming firebrand ; and in the direction 
where he was aiming it, and but a few rods from 
him, two grizzly bears of the largest kind, one 
seated, and the other in advance, and galloping 
upon him ! 

The firebrand fell a few feet before it, when the 
beast sprang upon it with both paws, and seized it 
in its mouth ! He dropped it, and wheeling about, 
and crying in the most piteous manner, retreated, 
wiping his nose and his paws upon the grass. 

The female, with the curiosity (perhaps) natural 
to her sex, must have a smell of it too, and was 



The Trail lost. 199 

advancing for the purpose. An instant" snuff (and 
I think a taste) was enough for her too, and they 
both galloped oft" together, whining in the most 
doleful manner as they disappeared amongst the 
rocks ! 

Gleeson knew nothing of the affair until he heard 
our relation of it ; and all of us, without our wea- 
pons in hand, were spared the necessity of asking 
mercy of those unmerciful beasts, only by the 
whirling of a firebrand which Caesar happened to 
have in his hand at the moment, instead of vainly 
attempting to run for his rifle! 

Delivered thus from the jaws of those monstrous 
animals, which had gone off evidently with a distaste 
for us, we began collecting wood for the night, each 
of us carrying a firebrand in his hand, as a precau- 
tion ; and, between two rousing fires, and our horses 
close picketed to our heads, and one of the three 
always on sentry, we slept tolerably well. 

After several days from this, and continuing our 
course over hills and valleys, and, in the latter part 
of the way, having lost the trail, we at length ap- 
proached a conical hill of considerable height, and 
with the appearance of a low, level country beyond 
it, which we had reason to believe was, at last, the 
valley of the Rio Grande del Xorte, and that we 
must necessarily be nearing the settlements on its 
borders. 

It was agreed that Gleeson should turn it on the 



2QO A Squatters Cabin. 

right, and that Caesar and I would flank it on the 
left ; and that, as our horses were shod, and a sandy 
plain with thin grass was around it, we could not 
cross each other's tracks without recognizing them ; 
and, in this way, with a certainty of joining com- 
pany again somewhere beyond the mound, one or 
the other of us would probably stumble upon some 
trail leading to the settlements. 

Caesar and I, after a few miles, came upon a well- 
beaten track of shod horses, showing us beyond 
doubt that we were near the settlement ; and, in a 
little time, following it, we turned a small hillock 
and came upon a settlers hut— a well-built log 
house — and its smoking chimney showed us that it 
was occupied. We rode up in front of it, and a 
nice and tidy middle-aged woman, with two little 
children, came to the door. 

I addressed her in Spanish, inquiring how far we 
had yet to ride to reach the Mission of St. Diego, 
or any other town on the Rio del Norte. She 
replied, in English, that she did not understand 
Spanish. I then asked her in English, when she 
promptly answered that we could not get to the 
river that night. 

" Then," said I, " good woman, can we get lodging 
here to-night, and something to eat ; for our provi- 
sions are entirely out?" 

" Well, sir," said she, " I am very much ashamed ; 
we have been here but a very short time, and we 



A Squatters Cabin. 201 

hain't got things a goin' very well yet ; but you shall 
be welcome to the best we have got, if you can put 
up with it." 

" Don't have any fears, madam/' said I ; " we are 
not very particular, and I know what allowance to 
make. We don't require beds ; we have each a 
good buffalo robe, and all we will ask will be a part 
of the floor to spread them on where the planks are 
not too hard." 

"Well, I'm sorry to say, sir, we hain't got our 
floor laid yet. We've nothin' but some birch bark 
for floors now, but I think you will find 'em dry." 

" That's enough, madam ; the principal thing we 
want is shelter." 

We dismounted, and Caesar picketing the horses, 
— for there was abundance of good grass — I then 
sat down in conversation with the good-natured 
woman. 

"I can give you a steak," said she, "and pan- 
baked bread, and a cup of coffee, but we have no 
sweetening for it but molasses." 

" Never mind," said I ; " that's quite enough— we 
don't wish to fare better." 

From a few minutes' conversation, I learned 
that she was a native of Ohio ; that she was married 
in Texas, and, a year or two previous, had, with her 
husband, moved to Santa Fe ; and, not satisfied 
with Santa Fe life, they had squatted on the fine 
little prairie of rich land on which they were living, 



202 A Sg 7m tier's Cabin. 

which cost them nothing; and that they had no 
neighbours nearer than three miles. 

Caesar and I had supped on the steak and coffee 
promised us, and we had enjoyed it very much; and 
night had approached. "But Gleeson, where is he? 
he has not arrived, he has not struck our trail! 
May-he a grizzly bear has chewed him up, or that 
some of those Navaho Indians have taken his scalp 
in order to get his horse. We have got to go back 
in the morning and look him up." 

The morning seemed to come very quick ; and, 
having taken a steak and our coffee the same as the 
evening before, Caesar led up our animals, and, as 
we were saddling them, Gleeson turned the little 
hillock and rode up. 

His circuit the day before had been so much 
longer than ours, and having been impeded by a 
difficult stream to cross, he had struck our trail too 
late in the day to overtake us, and had slept in his 
saddle all night, without anything to eat. I pre- 
sented him to our kind landlady, and told him I 
believed he could get a steak for his breakfast. 
But the poor woman, who seemed embarrassed at 
this, replied that she was sorry she could not give 
him a steak ; "for, 55 said she, " I cooked the last I 
had for your breakfast. We can't get any meat 
here, gentlemen, except what my husband kills 
with his gun. All game is very scarce now, and he 
has had very bad luck lately ; he w T as out all the 



" The Painter's Tail." 203 

day before yesterday and got nothing ; and yester- 
day he went out again, and hasn't got back yet ; 
and, to tell the plain truth, we have had no meat 
but that painter for the last two weeks." 

" Painter!" said I, " what painter?" 

" Well, dear me ! now, I'm afraid I forgot to tell 
you that them steaks was painter's meat. I should 
have mentioned it ; and if I forgot it, I hope you 
will excuse me." 

Gleeson, who was standing by, and starving, re- 
lieved the poor woman in a measure from her em- 
barrassment by exclaiming, "Why, my good woman, 
I am nearly starved to death; I could eat anything! 
Have you not got the tail of the panther left ? I 
could make a breakfast on that, without any cere- 
mony." 

"Well, no, sir; I am sorry also to say that the 
animal was very fat, and we roasted the tail the 
first night when it was brought in," 

I helped the kind woman as well as I could, by 
assuring her that the steaks which we had eaten 
were very good, and that I should be glad if I 
could get another like them for my supper. And 
sympathetic Caesar, who had been listening, put in, 
"Well, I guess, missus, no harm is done, anyhow." 

Gleeson took a turn at the pan-baked bread and 
coffee, after which we took leave of the good and 
hospitable woman, by leaving with her what Caesar 
called "a silber dolla," though she positively 



204 Rio Grande del Norte. 

refused to make any charge for what we had 
eaten. 

We reached the Rio Grande del Norte., sold our 
jaded animals — -in my accustomed way; — for less 
than half the price we had paid for them, took a 
" dug-out ^ Y and paddles, and began drifting towards 
Matamoras, then eight hundred miles ahead of us. 

This, being in the spring of 1855, was five years 
before the civil war in the United States, and seven 
years before the French invasion of Mexico; so that 
all was peace and goodwill on the banks of that 
noble and beautiful river, of which I may say some- 
thing more near the end of this book, if there should 
be space enough for it. Erom Matamoras, a sailing 
fVL vessel took Caesar and^to Sisal, in Yucatan; and, 
after a very short visit to Uxmal, and some points 
of interest on the coasts of Campeachy, I started 
for Liverpool. 

Discoveries I had made, not amongst Indians, but 
amongst rocks, decided me to make a visit to my 
friend and correspondent, the Baron de Humboldt; 
and, in July of 1855, I started for Berlin. I was 
received with great kindness by that great philo- 
sopher, and by him was presented to the King and 
Queen of Prussia, at " Sans Souci." 

The Baron de Humboldt approved, without ex- 



1 A pirogue. 



Baron de Humboldt in Berlin. 20 5 

ceptions, the theory I had come to advance with re- 
gard to the rocks of America, and which interesting 
subject was then determining me to make a second 
voyage to South America and the West India 
Islands. 

Of my interviews with him, and the objects 
I had in view in visiting the greater and lesser An- 
tilles, more will be said in a future chapter of this 
book. Enough at present. With letters from him 
to his old travelling companion, " Bonpland," then 
living in Uruguay, and others, I sailed for Cuba ; 
and, having visited most of the lesser Antilles, 
steamed for Rio de Janeiro ; and, with Patagonia 
and Terra del Fuego ahead of me, there were rocks 
and Indians enough yet in advance for long and 
patient investigations. 



CHAPTER VI. 

RIO DE JANEIRO. 

ESCRIPTIQNS of long voyages, in a 
short book, must necessarily be discur- 
sive and disjointed; and with jumps 
like those of kangaroos, they must leap, 
not creep, from points to points, that voyage inci- 
dents and the end of the book may terminate to- 
gether, 

Under this necessity, from the beginning of the 
first volume, I have had the somewhat painful task 
of inviting the reader to imagine the intervening in- 
cidents, which the want of space has often prevented 
me from narrating. In this dilemma we now are. 
After a long and interesting voyage — or series of 
voyages— we are at Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil ; a 
beautiful city, with its overtowering escarpments of 
black and frowning rocks behind it, and the mar- 
vellous bay of Botafogo, like a beautiful apron, in 
front of it Its foaming and dashing cascade of the 




Rio Janeiro* - * 207 

Corcovado is a fixture, and, like the rest, an orna- 
ment eternal. But what are more beautiful— 

or, at all events, more exciting and interesting are 

its grand, and mighty, and impenetrable forests, 
and rivers, and swamps, and mosquitos, and fireflies, 
and butterflies, and alligators, and tigers, and mon- 
keys, and parrots, and Indians, that lie west and 
south of it. 

Rio, I have said, is a beautiful city; its rocky 
walls are grand, its Botafogo charming, its Plaza 
amusing, and its museum ; its inhabitants are gay 
and rich, and its ladies are beautiful ; its civilization 
is of a high and noble cast. But what of all this ? 
why should we stop here ? The Bay of Botafogo, 
and these dark and frowning escarpments of . rocks, 
and the glistening cascade of the Corcovado will be 
the same a thousand years hence; the Plaza will 
be better built, its inhabitants will be more, rich, its 
civilization will be higher; and its ladies, not more 
beautiful, but there will be more of them. Then 
why detain us now ? We travel to see the perish- 
able, not the eternal. 

These grand and sublime forests which we are to 
enter will soon fall by the axe ; these beautiful, 
crouching, creeping, spotted, and glistening tigers, 
and the muddy alligators, will soon be seen, with glass 
eyes, in our museums ; these thousands of leaping, 
vaulting, and peeping monkeys, and chattering par- 
rots and parroquets, and gilded butterflies, and ana- 



208 B zce7io s Ay res. 

condas will be there also ; and all those endless 
clusters and bouquets of wild flowers, and everything 
else of Nature's blossoming and breathing works, 
including the wild and frolicsome Indian, who now 
exultingly smiles as he draws his long and unerring 
bow amidst the jungle, or paddles his light canoe, 
are soon to be metamorphosed — to be spoiled, if 
not obliterated, by the ruthless march of civiliza- 
tion. 

Why, then, stop to see the imperishable and 
the progressive, which can be seen a hundred years 
hence as well as now? We are of a different caste 
and a different taste. We travel to see the perish- 
able and the perishing ; and let us see them before 
they fall ; let us hie away then to Buenos Ayres. 
lhere are no Indians, no tigers, no alligators, no 
anacondas, here. The steamer leaves to-morrow for 
Buenos Ayres. FU take this little book along, and 
my pencils. The Uruguay, with its clear and blue 
waters comes in there, and on it, in their light canoes, 
the tall and handsome Payaguas, the Tobos, the 
Linguas, and the Bocolis, and the Botocudas. 

The mighty Paraguay comes rolling along there 
also, with the waters of the long Parana, both rising 
in the mountains in the centre of the empire ; and, 
in their course of 1S00 miles, afford a highway and 
food for more than fifty tribes of Indians, and their 
waters and their shores, localities for 50,000 tigers, 
150,000 alligators, 1,000,000 of monkeys, 5,000,000 



Parting with Ccesar. 209 

of parrots, tens of thousands of anacondas and rattle- 
snakes, and, now and then, a boa-constrictor. 

What a delightful field have we then before us at 
Buenos Ayres ! And yet, not far off, to the south, 
the Aucas, the Puelckes, the Auracanos, the Pata- 
gons and Fuegians. Oh, how inviting and how ex- 
citing ! I cannot crowd them all into this little book, 
I am sure of it ; but I will abridge when I can, and 
go on while the paper lasts. 

Caesar left me a year ago, at Sisal, and I am lost. 
The vessel that took us from Matamoras was going 
from Sisal to Para, and there he was impatient to 
unfold to " Sally Bool," a beautiful mulatto girl, 
who sells oranges at the head of the quay, the won- 
ders of his voyages. Our parting was sorrowful, as 
my young readers can easily imagine — he going to 
see his old sweetheart, " Sally Boot;' and I going to 
my old friend, the Baron de Humboldt. We shook 
hands three times, and, at the end of the last shake, 
he exclaimed, " Oh, de Lord preserb you, good 
Massa Catlin ! " I never will forget it. 

My friend Thomas, in whose house I was made 
welcome whilst in Buenos Ayres, recommended to 
me a faithful servant man — Jose Alzar (pronounced 
Althar) — whom he had employed for several years, 
and whose native place was Corrientes, some hundreds 
of miles up the Paraguay, and at the mouth of the 
Rio Parana. His knowledge of the country, and of 
several of the Indian tribes, and of their languages, 

P 



2io Corrientes. 

was just the thing for me ; and, with Jose Alzar, I 
was again soon ready, by steamer and canoes, and 
without horses, for Indian peregrinations. 

I put into Alzar's hands the now famous minie 
rifle, first carried on the Essequibo and the Trom- 
butas, as has been described, by my worthy com- 
panion Smyth, and afterwards by Caesar, for more 
than ten thousand miles. I reduced the number of 
cartoon portraits, in the portfolio, to about a dozen, 
and, strapping it on to his back, we started on a 
steamer for Corrientes. 

Of Corrientes, which is a large and flourishing 
town on the right bank of the river, I have little 
other recollection than that of seeing from the deck 
of the steamer, before we landed, several groups of 
tents of Indians lining the shore of the river, above 
and below the town. 

I recollect landing and taking my luggage to an 
hotel ; but my subsequent and stronger impressions 
were got in the wigwams, to which I was a quick 
and constant visitor. 

One can easily imagine the facilities and the con- 
fidence rendered me by my new employe, who was 
now in his native town, and with the Indians of his 
personal acquaintance around him. Three families 
of the Payaguas tribe were there, and several tents 
of the Botocudos, who had made loner voyages in 
their canoes, and were soon to return to their native 
countries. 



Payaguas Indians. 2 1 1 

The Payaguas, the representatives of a tribe 
nearly extinct, and whose modes were purely pri- 
mitive, were chiefly naked — both men and women 
wearing but a "fig-leaf" the width of the palm of 
one's hand, made of cotton-cloth or of bark — made 
a new impression upon me, of native man in physi- 
ological development and dignity. Not even the 
Osages or the Shyennes of North America were 
equal in stature to them, nor man whom I ever saw 
in any society. Six feet and nine inches, six feet 
and seven inches, and six feet and six inches, were 
the measurements of the three men of the party, 
and six feet the measure of a boy of sixteen years. 

My interpreter, who had seen the whole of the 
tribe, assured me that these were about an average 
of the tribe ; and these men told me there were 
many others taller than themeslves. And until I 
shall see the Patagons, I shall believe them the 
tallest race in America. They are canoe Indians, 
and, like all of that class, from the constant use of 
their brachial and pectoral muscles, are broad and 
muscular in the chest and shoulders, but, in propor- 
tion, slight in their legs, from their habitual squatted 
positions and little use of their nether limbs. 

The Payaguas live on the right bank of the Para- 
guay, and have, on the opposite bank, the C/iacos, a 
race of horsemen, who have extensive prairies for 
the chase, and consequently, like the prairie Indians 
of North America, exhibit a different symmetry in 



2 12 Chaco and Botocudo Indians. 



proportions. These two tribes, though always at 
war with each other, and inveterate enemies, have 
been unable mutually to inflict more than partial in- 
juries on each other — the canoe-men too wise to be 
caught upon the prairies, and the horsemen unable 
to contend upon the water. 

The Payaguas live chiefly in one long cabin or 
tent (tolderid), in the form of a shed, standing on 
the bank of the river, of some thirty or forty rods in 
length, built of upright posts at equal distances, set 
in the ground and covered with a curious and 
beautiful thatching of palm leaves — a roof merely, 
and no walls, with a curtain of palm leaves or of rush 
mats forming a hanging partition between the dif- 
ferent families. A community excessively droll, and 
too closely associated to be otherwise than social 
and peaceably disposed. 

They live principally on fish and turtle, with 
which the river abounds, which are easily taken, and, 
at all seasons of the year, without the slightest 
danger of default. 

The Botocudos, who come from near the sources 
oi the Uruguay, are quite a different race in appear- 
ance and in language ; the remnants of a warlike 
and numerous tribe, recently reduced to a few hun- 
dreds by those universal pests of the American In- 
dians — rum, and whiskey, and the small-pox. Of 
ordinary stature, they are a better proportioned race 
than the Payaguas, and with an approach to civili- 
zation, are in a measure clad, with tuniques and 



Botocudos and Payaguas Indians. 213 

ceintures of cotton-cloth, which the}* barter for with 
the border traders. 

Both the Botocudos and Payaguas wear the 
block of wood in the under-lip as an ornament, like 
the Nayas Indians of Queen Charlotte's in North 





America, and already spoken of. How surprising 
this fact! that, on the north-west coast of North 
America and on the south-east coast of South 
America, almost the exact antipodes of each other, 
the same peculiar and unaccountable custom should 
be practised by Indian tribes, in whose languages 
there are not two words resembling, and who have 
no knowledge of each other. Such striking facts 



214 Payaguas Indians. 

should be preserved and not lost, as they may yet 
have a deserved influence in determining ultimately 
the migration and distribution of races. In plate 
No. 1 6 I have given copies of three of my portraits 
of Botocudos, illustrating the singular customs 
above described. 

Who can imagine, who can understand, but my- 
self, the astonishment and also the amusement 
which my portfolio produced amongst these poor 
people, when I showed them a couple of portraits 
of the Nayas Indians, with the block of wood in their 
under-lips, whom, as I told them, I had recently visited, 
and who were at least three hundred days' march 
(their only mode of computing long distances) from 
them, and also on the exact opposite side of the 
earth, which was round — a new idea to them ? 

What a pit}' poor Csesar lost this ! By the por- 
traits which I showed them, I explained also that 
the custom of slitting and elongating the ears, and 
wearing in them oval blocks of wood, was precisely 
the same, when the chief of the party pronounced 
them " brothers," and a facetious old mcdicine-mau, 
with his head painted white, disposed to be witty, 
observed that he thought " the Nayas Indians were 
very distant relations." 

By going to my hotel and opening my luggage, I 
was able to return in a little time to these astonished 
people, with three of the blocks which I had brought 
from the Nayas tribe, and which were polished by 



Payaguas Indians, 2 1 5 

long use. At the sight of these, which they 
could take in their hands, they seemed to draw 
more practical proof, and all the men set up a ter- 
rific howl, started by the medicine-man, whilst the 
women covered their mouths with both hands. This, 
my interpreter told me, was their mode of recording 
a truth, an established, proved 'fact, which no one was 
allowed afterwards to deny. A recorded fact. 

I explained to them the slight difference in the 
shape of the blocks — those of the Nayas, as seen in 
plate Xo. 10 (page 138), being of an oval form, and 
concave on the upper and lower sides, and grooved 
around the rim, whilst those of the Payaguas and 
Botocudos were round, and both surfaces and the 
rim perfectly plane. 

The chief replied to this, that he could recollect 
perfectly well when the Payaguas shaped their 
blocks in the same manner as the Nayas ; but, foi 
the greater facility of slipping them in and out, and 
also to save the labour of excavating them, for 
which their tools were Very bad, they changed their 
shapes to what they now are. On inquiring what their 
object was in wearing such things in the lip and in the 
ear, I met at once some difficulty, w T hich seemed to 
be raised by the fidgety old medicine-man. He 
seemed to meet the inquiry with some suspicion, 
or to treat it, at least, as he suggested, as a thing 
which I ought to have learned from my friends, the 
Nayas, " on the other side of the world/ 5 — a queer 



216 Block in the Lip. 

thing running still in his head ; and, as I learned 
through the interpreter, had led him to doubt, in 
some measure, my strict sanity. 

The chief, however, took a different view of the 
affair, and gave me in a ven- few words, as well as 
he could, an answer to my inquiries. He said, in the 
hrst place, he believed the reason why the custom 
was practised was that their ancestors had practised 
it before them ; that he had alwavs thought it a 
very foolish practice, and. as it was chiefly confined 
to the women, it was not likely to do anv harm ; 
that the women seemed to think it improved their 
appearance, and that, in such things, the men 
generally let the women have their own way. 

He said, there was now and then a man to be 
seen with the block in his Up, but that in such cases 
it only got him the name of an " old woman." The 
men of his tribe, he said, all have the under-lip 
pierced, so as ro wear ornaments of various kinds. 
" This we can't avoid," said he. " for it is done by 
our mothers, when we are infants and under their 
sole control ; and there are many men in our tribe 
whose ears and lips have been thus cut. and who 
never have worn an ornament of any kind in them, 
and I think it is much the best way," 

In speaking of this strange custom amongst the 
Nayas Indians of British Columbia. I described the 
manner in which the orifice in the lip was produced, 
as well as the mode of slitting and elongating their 



Block in the Lip. 217 

ears, by wearing weights in them, and the mode 
seems to be precisely the same here. 

After having expressed my surprise at finding 
two peoples, on opposite sides of the globe, practis- 
ing alike this unaccountable custom, it is not less 
surprising that the Rev. Dr. Livingstone should 
have found a native tribe in the centre of Africa 
wearing blocks exactly similar in shape and dimen- 
sions in the tipper-lip, and called by the natives, 
Pe-le-le (pronounced Pay-lay-lay). 

From his description, the blocks are from one- 
and-a-half to two inches in diameter, and the mode 
of perforating the lip in childhood, and increasing 
the size of the blocks as the wearer advances in age, 
are the same as I have described above ; and he 
adds, that the only object for which they are worn, 
as far as he could learn, was that of ornament. 

Now if, in my eccentric peregrinations, I should 
stumble on to a tribe, or meet an individual Indian 
lady, ingenious enough to have united the two — 
wearing a block both in the upper and the under- 
lip — what a beautiful and useful improvement it 
would be, and what a wonderful addition to the 
honourable discoveries of my roving life — a double 
P ay-lay -lay ! The very thought of its being a possi- 
bility ahead of me. stimulates me, and Alzar and I 
will move on. 

A sort of barge, not unlike the keel-boats of the 
Missouri, propelled by eight oars, and freighted, not 



218 Ascending the Rio Parana. 

unlike the crafts of that river, with stuffs, and hardware, 
&c, (and, no doubt, in the bottom of the hold, with 
rum and whiskey), was starting for the upper waters 
of the Parana ; and Alzar agreeing to handle an oar, 
and myself to lend a hand in rapid water, got us an 
agreeable and amusing passage to the mouth of the 
Iguazu River— a distance of 500 miles — from which 
point Ave designed to cross, the country to the upper 
waters of the Uruguay, and descend that river to 
Buenos Ayres, visiting many tribes of Indians on its 
banks, and killing some of the black tigers that 
fatten on the peccaries and soft-shelled turtles that 
abound along its shores. 

Alzar, with these boatmen, was at home ; and 
his acquaintance with them and their modes of life 
made the boat, though a rough one, an agreeable 
home for me. 

I had promised him, at the end of our campaign, 
in addition to his monthly wages, to leave him, as a 
present, the minie rifle; and one can imagine better 
than I can describe it, the infinite pleasure he was 
taking in cleaning, polishing, and handling it, and 
"heaving his lead ashore," as Smyth used to do on 
the banks of the Trombutas and Essequibo. Alli- 
gators, peccaries, swans, wild geese, and ducks, were 
constantly marks for him; and his long and deadly 
shots were not only amusement, but astonishment 
for his comrades, who never before had seen a minie 
rifle, or even dreamed of its long range and accuracy. 



Banks of the Parana. 219 

The high and perpendicular walls of red sand- 
stone, and overtowering forests of loft}' trees, alter- 
nating from one side to the other, and fronted by- 
islands and the opposite shore, covered with forests 
of orange and wild peach trees, bending down with 
their yellow and red fruit, and interspersed and 
interwoven with the deep green of rhododendrons 
and the massive purple of thorn blossoms, presented 
a picture as new to me, as if the river and mountain 
scenes of my former voyages I had passed blind- 
folded. 

" Sam," — a name not made known even to Alzar 
as yet — "Sam Colt," a six-shot carabine, made ex- 
pressly for me by my old friend, Colonel Colt, and 
which has answered to the nick-name of " Sam " in 
my former travels, had been so far under cover ; but 
the constant flapping of wings about and over us, 
and the total nothingness else for me to do, brought 
it out, and a new excitement and a new astonish- 
ment amongst the boatmen, who had barely heard 
the word "revolver" pronounced, but never in those 
days had had the chance of seeing one. 

But why should I spend time and space here, 
with the thousands of incidents that took place on 
this beautiful river ? We have a long journey be- 
fore us, Indians in abundance, and, perhaps, a 
double Pay-lay-lay ; and, getting towards the end 
of my little book, I may have yet to strike out the 
fifty last pages that have been written. One thing, 



220 "Entre Rios" Mountain. 

however ; by the way, rowing against the stream, 
we saw few tigers—not even their heads — for, at the 
grunting of our boatmen and the noise of their oars, 
they lowered themselves in the weeds, and peccaries 
stood in the shade as we passed : but the wild-fowl, 
unused to the sound of a gun, sufficient for our 
larder, I daily seduced with " Sam," from my com- 
fortable seat— a keg— which made me a sort of 
" ngure-head " in the bow of the boat. 

Rapids became frequent, and laborious, and 
tedious, and were said to be more so ahead of us, 
and the sun insupportably hot; and, before our 500 
miles were finished, we were at Candeloria, a small 
town on the east bank of the river, where our 
trading companions had business to do, and an en- 
campment of Eotocudos promised v/ork for me, and 
Alzar and I halted. After a couple of days, our trad- 
ing companions continued on their course, and we 
got conveyed across the " Entre Rios" mountain to 
the small village and mission of Conception, on the 
upper waters of Uruguay. 

Alzar renewed old acquaintances there, and with 
the " old minie " in his hands and the portfolio of 
Indian portraits on his back, and the tact and facetiae 
of a son of a Portugese father and a Creole mother, 
one can easily imagine rapidly gaining new ones, 
and raising a sort of furore in the peaceable and 
silent little village into which we had entered. 
No Indians were there, and after sleeping two 



Conception. 221 

days ahead, whilst Alzar was stipulating for a " dug- 
out " canoe, and laying in salt meat, coffee, sugar, 
salt, &c, for our voyage down the river, I stepped 
with him into our lazy, ugly, but solid and steady 
little craft, in which he had seated a stout and first- 
rate paddlerof his old acquaintance, who was wanting 
to go to Buenos Ayres, and was willing and glad of 
the chance if he could be allowed to "work his 
passage." 

To this lucky occurrence there was no objection ; 
and with three good paddles and three good pad- 
dlers (not peddlers) from Conception — a very good 
starting point ? — we started off. 

To go down stream in a solid and dry canoe, in 
such a climate, and on so clear and beautiful a 
river, with hard biscuits enough, and coffee, and 
sugar, and salt, and a few pounds of salt pork for 
cooking, and plenty of powder and ball and fishing- 
tackle, is one of the delightful things of this world. 
To paddle or to sleep, as we choose, we still go on, 
and the stillness with which we can travel brings us 
within pistol-shot, if we wish it, of the staring tigers, 
whose heads are above the grass and weeds on the 
bank. 

As Smyth and I had been tiger-shooters on the 
Trombutas, so Alzar and I, with the same weapons, 
were tiger-slayers on the shores of the Uruguay. 
And why not ? It costs nothing, no apprenticeship 
is necessary ; no courage, or rashness, or recklessness 



222 Descending the Uruguay. 

is called into question ; no great skill in shooting 
is requisite, for they hold ther heads perfectly still 
— there is a beautiful mark in the centre of their 
foreheads, the right spot exactly, where the black 
lines radiate — the smooth current does not in the 
least interfere with our range, and brings us within 
fifty paces if we desire it. 

The whole cost, therefore, is the price of a conique 
ball and a charge of powder. And for these, if the 
animal be fat, which is generally the case, the tail 
itself pays a hundred times over, and leaves us the 
skin, which is worth twenty dollars. 

"A tiger's tail, ha ! you eat a tiger's tail ?" 
Yes, to be sure, a tiger's tail— but it cannot be 
cooked in a kitchen — it would be useless to try it 
It must be bandaged in the leaves of the wild 
cabbage (or wapsipinnican), and roasted under the 
embers of a camp fire, on the ground. Nothing 
that ever was cooked exceeds it in deliciousness of 
flavour, and pleasure of digestion. These often 
weigh some six or eight pounds, and an evidence 
that they are, by the Indians, considered the 
choicest of food, is, that, in my South American 
travels, I have met at least a dozen Indians of the 
highest rank, surnamed the " Tiger's Tail;' from 
some peculiar excellence ; and I have myself twice 
received this high and flattering distinction from 
those poor people who have hearts, but no decora- 
tions, to give. 



Shores of the Urugziay. 223 

Like the Rio Trombutas, the banks of this beau- 
tiful river are chiefly covered with dense and mag- 
nificent forests, abounding in monkeys and parrots, 
and peccaries and tigers, and the bed of the stream, 
from their emptied shells on the beach, would seem 
to be paved with soft-shelled turtles. Fish of many 
kinds, and of delicious flavour, and for the names 
of which I was obliged to appeal to Alzar, were 
constantly raised by our trolling lines. And ducks 
and geese — and swans and pelicans if we wanted 
them — were constantly at our service, and an easy 
prey ; and the islands of the lower half of the river, 
like those of the Parana, covered with oranges and 
wild peaches of delicious flavour. 

We generally slept on islands, for on them tigers 
more seldom walk, and rattlesnakes generally fail 
to reach them ; but on these, as on the main shore, 
like the islands and shores of the Missouri and the 
Amazon, those invulnerable and unconquerable 
pests, as universal and as omnipresent in that 
country as the air itself, the relentless mosquitos, 
were always at war w T ith us as soon as the sun was 
down. 

On the shore at that time it was necessary to be, 
to boil the pot and cook our food, but that done, 
and each one armed with a bunch of bushes, our 
provisions and culinary articles were taken into our 
canoe, and pushing into the stream, and whipping 
off, the flying, whirling cloud was soon ashore; and 



22 A Mosqtiitos. 

casting anchor, we had till ten o'clock, or there- 
abouts, a quiet and delightful time to get our first 
nap in our canoe. At that hour, by some police 
that those creatures have, and which I never could 
exactly understand, hungry or not hungry, they are 
all housed until near sun-down of the next day. 

So at ten o'clock, or a little after, we always went 
quietly to the shore and slept— " where ? " Not in 
hammocks, but in our strong and dry canoe, ready, at 
a moment's warning, if danger was at hand, to push 
off upon the boiling current. And if it rained, by 
an unrolled mat, constructed of palm-leaves by 
Alzar and his passenger, as we floated along, cover- 
ing the canoe from stem to stern, we were perfectly 
protected from the entrance of a drop of water. 
The heaviest thunder-showers pelted us, and poured 
on to us, but in vain ; but against mosquitos our 
roof was no proof, for where air comes, in South 
America, there will come (during their daytime) 
mosquitos also. 

And how strange ! What a mysterious order of 
nature ! The billions on billions of millions of these 
sanguiniverous insects created to exist but a few 
weeks of time, with a taste for blood, and a pro- 
boscis for boring, and for drawing it through the 
thickest of hides, and, probably, not one in a hun- 
dred millions ever tastes the food they were made 
to procure and enjoy ; and from which, if they are 
allowed to be gorged by it, they are known to die 
in a few minutes. 



Mosquitos. 225 

How strange also, that the beautiful provision of 
nature, given them for penetrating the skin, and 
drawing the food which nature has indicated for 
them, should inflict such insupportable pain as 
completely to defeat their efforts to procure it ! 
No animals of the country allow a mosquito to 
bite ; and man, at the few points where he is exposed, 
though he often feels the sting, allows the insect no 
time to draw his blood. 

Is it then that here is an order of nature frus- 
trated, or was it the intention of nature that the 
probosces of these murderous creatures should have 
been used for a different purpose, and that the 
cruel and sanguinary use they are making of them 
is but a wicked perversion of an instrument in- 
tended for a different object ? 

How strange, also, that the proboscis of this 
insect, which will go through the thickest clothing 
and the skin of a white man, and even at times 
through his buckskin leggings, has little or no 
effect upon the naked Indian, not that it lacks the 
power, or that the blood is not as easily drawn, for 
the Indian's skin is as soft and as thin as that of a 
white man. 

There have been various theories advanced on 
this subject. Some have supposed some peculiar 
quality in the Indian's blood make it unpalatable 
to the mosquitos. And others have thought that 
the Indians had some oil or drug which the}' rubbed 

Q 



■ 



2 26 Mosquito Soup, 

over their bodies and limbs as a protection ; but it 
is more probable that the constant smoke they live 
in, and which mosquitos always avoid, forms a 
surface on the skin repugnant to the olfactory 
nerves of the insect. 

The Indians of South America, and particularly 
those of the Amazon, sleep under sheds, in the 
open air, and entirely naked, unmolested by mos- 
quitos, where a white man, bound with cords, and 
naked, could not possibly exist one hour; not loss 
of blood, but inflammation, would be the death 
of him. And if the whole human (civilized) race 
of the globe were spread over the valley of the 
Amazon and its tributaries, and exposed in the 
same way, one day, from sundown to ten o'clock at 
night, would end the whole of them. 

But enough of tigers and mosquitos. I fear I 
shall have to strike them all out of my little book 
before I get through, for want of space. We are 
travelling with the Indians. However, I will ven- 
ture to insert here the following recipe which I 
wrote out to please Alzar ; and after that we will 
proceed on our course. 

How to make Mosquito Soup, 

RECIPE.— Descending the Missouri or Arkansas 
rivers in North America, or the Corontyns or Uru- 
guay in South America, run your canoe ashore in a 
thick bottom, just at sundown, having filled your 



Jlosquito Soup. 227 

tin kettle about half full of river water, which is 
very pure and wholesome. Before landing, how- 
ever, throw a couple of spoonfuls of salt (or, what 
is better, if you have it, half a pound of salt pork) 
and one of black pepper into your kettle, and a 
dozen or so of the small prairie onions {cop-o-blos) y 
a sort of wild onion about the size of a rifle-bullet, 
and which no travellers in those regions should fail 
to gather and carry along, as important aids in 
cooking. In fact, a wild turkey or goose cannot be 
well roasted without them, as your stuffing other- 
wise will be a complete failure. 

"All these things be sure to arrange before you 
land, as it might be difficult to arrange them on 
shore. Also, before being put on shore, if you be 
the cook, you should draw a pair of Indian buck- 
skin leggings over your pantaloons, tying them very 
tight around the ankles. Leave your hat or cap 
behind, covering the head with a large silk hand- 
kerchief or shawl, passing under the chin, and 
covering the face as high as the bridge of the nose, 
and tie it firmly in the back of the neck : then, with 
a bunch of willow boughs in your left hand to pro- 
tect your eyes (keeping it constantly in motion.), 
whilst your right hand is free to work with, a 
thick pair of buckskin gloves or mittens on your 
hands, and your pantaloons' pockets turned inside 
out, your person is tolerably secure from all ap- 
proach, and you may venture to step ashore ; but 



228 Mosquito Soup. 

keeping your body and limbs constantly more or 
less in motion, which will defeat the aim of such 
probosces as may occasionally have found their way 
through the imperfect seams or otherwise vulnerable 
parts of your dress. 

" In these heavy wooded bottoms there is always 
a plenty of dried mulberry limbs and trees, which 
gather as quick as possible ; they burn free, with a 
light flame and little or no smoke to frighten the 
mosquitos away. Set your kettle exactly in the 
middle of the fire, so that the flame will rise equally 
all around it, and some twelve or fourteen inches 
above its rim, which is abundantly high. 

" The rest of the party, having left you ashore, 
should then lose no time in paddling into the 
stream, each one with a bunch of willow-bourfis 
whipping ashore all the insects that are attempting 
to follow the canoe, and leaving you, the cook, 
alone to 'walk the kettle,' as one alone concentrates 
the flying cloud better than several 

" The cloud beginning to gather in promising 
quantities around you, you may commence walking 
at a regular pace, with short steps, around the fire 
and boiling kettle ; the swarm will follow in your 
wake, and, to shorten the distance, they will con- 
stantly be flying over the fire, when, their wings 
being singed, the}* fall into the kettle ; and whilst 
keeping your eyes clear with the willow-boughs in 
your left hand, if you aim your blows right, a great 



Mosquito Soup. 229 

many may be thus knocked into the kettle that 
perhaps are too wary to get their wings burned. 

" There is no limited time for this operation, nor 
any end to the arriving multitudes ; but you must 
be guided entirely by the apparent quantity, by 
lifting off the kettle occasionally, when the boiling 
ceases, and their carcasses rise in a large clotted 
mass on the surface, which with a large wooden 
spoon you should throw off, as the fat is all ex- 
tracted from them, and their bodies should give way 
to a fresh supply, in order to obtain the requisite 
richness of the soup. 

" If you observe occasionally a gallinipper or a 
mosquito hawk falling in, w\hich is very apt to be 
the case, where they are so confusedly grouped to- 
gether, all the better, for they are always gorged 
with a fresh supply of these insects ; and if in the 
desperate struggle any part of your dress should 
have given way, and the mosquitos should have 
succeeded through the breach in getting a few 
ounces of your blood, no matter — never mind it ; it 
will add to the richness of the soup. 

"The boiling operation being finished, and the 
canoe called ashore, the kettle should be handled as 
quickly as possible, and taken on board ; all hands, 
as they are armed each with a bunch of willow- 
boughs, will be able to whip the following swarms 
ashore as the canoe enters the current, over which 
they never venture to fly more than a few rods. 



230 Mosquito Soup. 

u Then, landing on some barren sand-bar which 
has no vegetation, and consequently is uninhabited 
by these torments, a comfortable night's rest may 
be enjoyed ; and the soup, when it is sufficiently 
cooled, and the again collected mass of their light 
and emptied carcasses floating on the surface are 
again skimmed off with the spoon, and some hard 
biscuits crumbed in, your kettle of 'Mosquito 
Soup' is ready for use. 1 

"GEO. Catlin, Rio Uruguay." 

From Conception, where we started, to the little 
town of Santa Cruz. 200 miles, and from that, to 
San Pedro, on the west bank of the river, 200 miles 
further down, here and in the neighbourhood were 
Indians a plenty. But one incident more — a tiger 
story. It never again can be told, and should be 
history. I can tell it in a few words, and then we 
will go on with the Indians. 

On the Missouri, with Batiste and Bogard to 
paddle, I always steered ; but on the Uruguay, the 
steering-paddle was in the hands of Alzar. and I 
sat about the middle of the canoe, whilst our pas- 
senger u working his passage" was near the bow, 
with his propeller always at work, like a machine. 

1 If from any undue prejudice the superior quality of this 
soup should he questioned, it at least has this advantage over 
most other kinds, that it costs nothing, and is always at hand, 
and easily obtained in all the great western valleys of NorijL 
and in all the valleys of South America. 



A Tiger Story. 251 

Some thirty or forty miles below the town of 
Santa Cruz, and whilst we were passing great quan- 
tities of turtle-shells, and half-devoured carcasses of 
turtles lying on the sandy beach, signs incontro- 
vertible of tigers, I had charged Alzar to keep a 
bright look-out, and to let me know if any game 
was discovered, and I had fallen asleep. In the 
midst of this (I forget what I was dreaming about), 
Alzar whispered in my ear, — 

" Senor, there's a beautiful tiger ahead — stands 
out whole neck and head above the grass !" 

Before getting my eyes fairly open, " Slip back," 
said I, " to your seat, inch by inch, and keep your 
paddle down, and both hands close to the water's 
edge, and steer the canoe a little in ; we are rather 
too far from the shore." 

Before he retreated he had given me, with his 
forefinger, the direction, and I was beginning to see 
the staring, glaring round head of the villain above 
the grass on the top of the bank. 

But why, by the way, should I say " villain?" 
These poor creatures slay only for food ; we kill 
for amusement, not for food, not for the carcass — 
and for the tail, we sometimes don't even take that. 
But a " Tiger a-head !" is a poor place for moralizing 
or sympathizing. ; " Sam" was in both hands, and, 
of course, near my cheek ! The smoke cleared 
away, I could see nothing ; but both of the men 
exclaimed — " Dead shot, dead shot ! Senor." 



2 3 2 Shooting a Tiger. 

I told Alzar to steer the canoe in, and put me 
ashore. He landed me a few rods below where the 
animal had sat, and advancing along the edge of 
the stream until I got opposite to the place, I 
directed him to keep the canoe a little out from the 
shore, and in front of me, and his rifle up and ready 
in case of any necessity. 

Though my men had seen the animal fall, I took 
this precaution, as I was about to ascend the bank 
of some thirty or forty feet, and covered with tall 
grass and weeds, under a sort of conviction, from 
the rather slow fire of my rifle, that I had missed, 
or only grazed the creature's head, and that it might 
be lying in the weeds, and read}- to make a spring 
upon me ; or, if the animal were dead, as my men 
believed, its mate might be lying by its side, and 
read}' to do the same thing for me. 

I had five shots left in the cylinders, however, and 
ready at the instant, and was ready to run all risks 
of rising the bank alone, imprudent as it was. The 
bank was something like thirty feet higher than the 
river, and from the water's edge rose at an angle of 
thirty degrees, and was covered with grass and 
weeds as high nearly as my head. I ascended very 
slowly, and with my rifle raised ; and when near 
the brink, I was no doubt soonest discovered, being 
in motion. And,, as if shot from a cannon, the beast 
struck me, its breast meeting the muzzle of my 
rifle, which was thrown over my shoulder, and 



A Tigers Spring. 233 

quite into the river — and myself, backwards and 
headlong to the water's edge ! It was a blow and a 
rebound ; and the animal, at one leap, was out of 
sight ! 

I was paralyzed by the shock, and in that condi- 
tion was taken into the canoe ; and might as well 
have been taken and lugged into the thicket, the 
helpless pre)- of my adversary. When conscious- 
ness came, beyond the shock, I knew nothing of 
what had transpired except what my men related 
to me, nor had I then the slightest recollection of 
having seen the animal, in its flight, coming upon 
me, probably from the quantity of weeds between 
us hiding it from my view. 

We got into the stream and floated off, all hands 
(judiciously, no doubt) agreeing to a drawn battle, 
rather than risk anything further to gratify 
curiosity. 

The animal that I fired at might have fallen 
dead, as my men still declared, and its mate, lying 
by, might have sprung upon me ; or I might, as I 
think, from the dampness of my powder, have 
grazed its head, and brought it, in the manner de- 
scribed, upon me ; but, whichever might have been 
the case, we were quite willing to leave it to tigers 
to decide. 

Whilst exulting in my lucky escape, I began to 
feel pain in my left arm between the wrist and the 
elbow, and blood beginning to issue freely from it, 



234 A Tigers Scratch. 

I was convinced that the animal, though instantly 
as it had rebounded, had had a grab at my arm'; 
and getting at it., the incisions of two of its teeth 
were visible on the upper, and one on the opposite 
side. And, as proof that the creature intended to 
have taken me along with him, one paw had gone 
over my left shoulder, and, failing to take me along, 
had opened my cotton paletot for a considerable 
distance, and left the furrows of two of its nails in 
the flesh. My wounds, therefore, like those of a 
woman's fight, were but scratches, and easily dressed, 
and were quickly forgotten, though the marks of 
them still remain. 

At San Pedro I said Ave should find Indians, and 
m it and its near vicinity we found a plenty of them. 
The Tobas, the Lenguas, and the BacoHes— small 
tribes, the survivors from rum, and whiskey, and 
smallpox, by which the greater portion of those 
once numerous and warlike people have been swept 
away. 

Of these the Lcnguas and Tobos, which seem 
to be an amalgam of two tribes, is the most 
numerous and the most interesting. Their village 
(tolderia) is all in one long shed, standing on the 
bank of the river, and forty rods in length, and 
built much like the tolderia of the Payaguas, which 
has been described ; and resembling also the sheds 
of the Connibos and Sepibos, on the Rio Yucayali, 



Lengua and Tobos Indians. 235 

in Peru, and already described in the first volume 
of this work. The people, also, in their personal 
appearance and customs, resemble the Connibos 
enough to be their brothers ; and yet they resemble 
the Botocudos, of which people they are no doubt 
a part. Like the Botocudos, they wear the block 
of wood in the lip, and slit and elongate the rims 
of their ears. 

This extraordinary and curious custom, of which 
I have spoken in former chapters, I had oppor- 
tunities of more closely examining in this tribe, 
and which examinations will justify a few further 
remarks in this place. The greater portion of the 
tribe have long since abandoned so useless and so 
ridiculous a custom, and others still study eccen- 
tricity by keeping it up. 

In several instances I was permitted to examine 
closely the orifice in the lip, when the block was not 
in, and, to my surprise, in each instance, such is the 
elasticity and contraction of the lip, that from the 
moment a round block of wood, of two inches in 
diameter, was taken out, the lip contracts to its 
natural shape and proportions, and the orifice is so 
perfectly closed that not even the saliva from the 
mouth escapes through it ; and to the passing spec- 
tator the mark of it is scarcely visible in the face. 

From one of their medicine men, whose portrait 
I was painting, with the block in his lip, I got many 
curious particulars relating to the custom, and 



236 Lengtia Medicine Man. - 

amongst others, he put his finger on several holes 
in his cheeks, from which he told me he suspended 
strings of beads, and feathers, and other ornaments, 
on certain occasions, in their dances, masquerades,' 
&c. And I pointed to one that I discovered in his 
upper lip — 

"Yes," said he, pulling down the lip and running 
his thumb through it. "and I have sometimes worn 
the block in it." 

I had just before bartered for a couple of these 
blocks, which I had at the moment in my pocket ; 
and handing him one of them, he knew my object,' 
and in an instant it was adjusted in his upper lip ! 
Here it was that I "stumbled on a double pay-lay- 
lay :" It made a great laugh amongst the Indian 
bystanders, which showed that it was an eccentricity 
of the moment, and not a custom. The droll old 
doctor found, however, that he could talk better 
with the two than he could with the one only, and 
the clacking and clattering sounds of his wooden 
hps, and the curious grimaces of his face, produced 
a short spell of excessive laughter and amusement. 
_ Besides this singular mode of ornamentation, and 
the modes of deformation already spoken of, prac- 
tised by the Flatheads and- Peruvians, there are yet 
many others not less curious, which I have witnessed, 
and of which theworld are as yet not generallyaware' 
And of these, none more curious and extraordi- 
nary than those practised by the numerous tribes on 
the upper Amazon and its tributaries, whom Cssar 



it 



Indians of the Amazon. 237 

and I visited several years before, and of whom I 
spoke, very briefly, in the first volume of this work. 

Of all the tribes on the Continent of America, 
those of the Amazon and its affluents are the most 
nu de— the most ill-shaped— the least ornamented — 
the least warlike, and the least hostile, 




The equatorial climate in which they live, almost 
absolutely denying the use of clothing of any sort, 
and their fisherman's modes of life, living almost 
constantly in their dirty and wet canoes, destructive 
to costumes of all sorts, presents thousands of those 
people in a state of nudity almost, as absolute as 



238 Indians of the Amazon. 

when they were born, and, of course, in a state of 
nature too literal for the artist's pencils, the males 
only wearing a "fig leaf of cotton or of bark, the 
size of one's hand. 

The traveller, when he enters their humble wig- 
wams, where he is welcome, feels embarrassed at 
their nakedness, but not so those poor people, who 
practise modesty without cloaks, and whose artless 
and unstudied propriety reach civilized man things 
that in the abundance of his conceptions he never 
thought of before. 

Ill-looking, as many of the Amazon tribes are 
compared with the other American races, there are 
still tribes amongst them that remind the traveller 
of the Winnebagoes, the Menomonies, and other 
Canoe Indians of North America, and are quite 
their equals. 

On the Amazon and its tributaries, from the 
mouth of the Rio Xegro to Xauta, which constitutes 
but a half of that river, there are more than one 
hundred tribes speaking different or dialectic lan- 
guages ; and though ugly enough from Nature's 
hands, they have been caricatured in a manner that 
reflects little credit to Ait, and stigmatised as Can- 
nibals, in language as little worthy of historians. 

The whole country, a distance of 800 miles, if it 
were possible to traverse its vast forests and swamps 
on both sides of the river, might be travelled in 
security by a man with his wife and his children. 



Canoe and Horse Indians. 239 

and unarmed, without harm from the Indians ; and 
amongst them he would find helping hands when- 
ever difficulties were in his way. These people are 
friendly to the whites, because there are no buffaloes 
nor beavers in their country to excite white man's 
cupidity — because they have nothing with which to 
buy rum and whiskey, and because their lands are 
so vast, and covered with such immoveable forests 
of timber that white men do not want them ; and 
hostility amongst themselves is little known — the 
tribes are too small to wage desolating warfare — 
they have no defined boundaries to protect, or 
hunting grounds to defend. They cannot hunt ; the 
denseness of their forests forbids it ; and living by 
fishing, the rivers which they fish upon admit of no 
boundaries, and are alike free to all ; and the move- 
ments of their canoes, propelled only by the muscles 
of the warrior's arms, are less inspiring to deeds of 
war than the movements of the horse, which often 
lead the crazed warrior into rash and mortal 
combat. 

Like most canoe Indians, the peculiar modes of 
their lives, sitting in their wet canoes or wading in 
the water, forbid their dressing their feet and their 
legs, and, unlike the Indians who ride on the prairies 
or travel on foot amongst the rocks, they are gene- 
rally barefooted ; and the labour of propelling their 
canoes without the use of their nether limbs, gives 
them physiological disproportions — an over-develop- 



240 Mountain Indians. 

ment of the muscles of the arms and chest, and a 
narrowness in the hips, and a iankness and deficiency 
in the legs. 

The horsemen on the prairies, on the other hand, 
who always exercise astride of their horses' backs,' 
and using their arms only for their light bows and 
the bridle, beget a lack of symmetry almost equally 
striking ; an over-breadth in the hips —expansion 
and curvature of the upper legs, and comparative 
lightness and slightness in the arms and chest. 

. The fisherman is beautiful as he glides along in 
his canoe; but placed upon his naked feet, & he 
cringes and looks to the ground before his steps, 
and loses the dignity and grace of the mocasined 
man, who fearlessly and solidly sets his foot, and 
uses his eyes for the distance. 

These circumstantial departures from the 
natural symmetry of man and his movements, are 
plainly exhibited amongst all the horse and canoe 
tribes of America ; but there is another, the Moun- 
tain Indians, who have neither horses to ride nor 
canoes to paddle— who have no fish to catch and 
no buffaloes to chase, who draw their sinewy bows 
—whose steps and leaps, upwards and downwards 
and climbing, amongst the rocks, exercise alike, all 
the muscles of the body, and the limbs, where per- 
fect symmetry of form alone can be found. 

The numerous tribes on the haute Amazon— about 
the mouth of Rio Xegro, and from that to Xauta, 



Face Painting. 241 

and upon the shores of the Yucayali, of whom I 
have spoken as canoe Indians, deserve a few further 
remarks in this place relative to the curious modes 
of pendent and pigment ornamentation which they 
practise, and with effects perhaps more bizarre and 
more droll than even the blocks of wood worn in 
the lips, in the tribes where we are now halting. 

Besides the ordinary way of painting with vermi- 
lion and other colours daubed on with the fingers, 
several of these tribes have a mode of printing the 
colours on their faces and bodies in the manner 
somewhat of theorem painting. On a certain sort 
of palm leaf, or a piece of parchment-dressed skin, 
the most curious and intricate arabesque devices are 
drawn and cut out, and this laid on one cheek and 
the other, and the forehead, and the colour, mixed 
with grease, covering the palms of the hands of the 
operator, a gradual pressure prints the intricate de- 
signs through the theorems upon the face. 

There are often different patterns printed on the 
breasts, the shoulders, and arms, and legs, bewilder- 
ing the beholder who does not understand the pro- 
cess, with astonishment at the apparent labour and 
artistic effect, produced on a figure in the morning 
to be washed off at night, little thinking that the 
whole effect has been produced in five minutes. 

These theorems are prepared with oil and glue, 
so that thev bear washing, and being once elabo- 
rated, can be used a thousand times ; and the mys- 

R 



2 4 2 Pendent Ornaments. 



tery that astonishes an artist is, that two and three 
colours are sometimes printed over and between 
one another, like chromo-lithographic printing, and 
the colours rubbed in with the fingers, effects are 
often produced that would test the skill of the best 
artist to copy. 

The fat and round and solid cheeks of these 
people, and their peculiar colour, form the best pos- 
sible ground for this curious art, which I am quite 
sure could not be practised with equal effect on any 
other substance. 

The pendent ornaments of the face and ears in 
most of these tribes are not less surprising, and cer- 
tainly are more completely unaccountable. Of the 
tribes that I have visited in that region, the most 
remarkable for these modes are the Muras, on both 
sides of the Amazon, above the mouth of Rio Negro, 
the Iquitos, the Omdguas, the Ticunas, the Yahiias, 
the Marahnas, the Orejones, the Mayorunas, the 
Connibos, and Sepibos. 

These tribes all sever the rims of the ears and 
elongate the lobes, by wearing heavy weights in 
them ; which accomplished, enables them to wear 
enormous blocks of wood and other ornaments in 
them, precisely like the Botocudos and Lefiguas, 
whom v/e are yet amongst. By the process of 
elongating the lobe, it becomes enlarged, and often- 
times is seen descending quite to the shoulder, and, 
from appearance, of half a pound or more in 
weight. 



Pendent Ornaments. 243 

In Plate No. 18 I have given copies of three of 
my portraits made amongst those people, illustrat- 
ing the principal and most curious of the above- 
named modes, (a) A Mum chief, his ears curiously 
mutilated and elongated, with ornaments attached, 
round plates of silver fastened to his cheeks, his 
chin, and his nostrils, and long thorns standing out 
from his cheeks and his chin. 




I € 

18. 

For the supports of these singular ornaments of 
the face, incisions are made in the flesh in childhood, 
into which a large bead is forced, with a slight thong 
hanging out. The flesh heals around the cicatriced 
wound, and the bead is withdrawn. The elasticity 
of the flesh is such that the orifice is scarcely per- 



244 Pendent Ornaments. 

ceptible ; and, at the times of ornamentation, for 
galas, festival days, &c, a bead, into which the butt- 
end of the thorn is pressed, is slipped into the ori- 
fice, and supports the thorns in the positions in 
which they are placed, and so the silver plates are 
supported on the cheeks and the chin, and feather 
and other pendents. 

They dance, and sing, and yell, with all these or- 
naments attached, and if any one of them becomes the 
least deranged, the mere touch of the fingers adjusts 
it again. The portrait (&), same plate, an Orejona, is 
still more curiously ornamented with long feathers 
run through the cartilage of his nose, two splints 
fashioned from the branches of palm, attached by 
beads to the nose, and quills and beads suspended 
from his under-lip by the same means, and blocks 
of wood in the cartilage of his ears. 

The portrait (c), same plate, of a Ccocato chief, 
with the same incisions, wears the blocks in his ears! 
and ornaments his face, on this occasion, with strings 
of beads only. And besides these pendent orna- 
ments, their faces, and bodies, and limbs, were 
painted in a variety of forms and colours. 

In Plate No. 19 I have given a copy of a portrait 
of a medicine man (sorcerer) in the Omagua tribe, 
who uses the perforation through his lip alternately 
for suspending strings of beads or shells, or beauti- 
ful plumes, or for suspending a boulder of flint of a 
pound or more in weight, supported by a large bead 



Pendent Ornaments. 245 

on the inner side of the lip, which he assured me 
was a habit that he could not dispense with, from the 
pleasure it gave him at times, and always after 
eating, of drawing the cool air upon the gums and 
through his teeth ! 




1 



The habit of suspending strings of beads and 
feathers from the under lip is also practised by 
the females in many of the tribes, not only on 
the Amazon, but in various parts of South America, 
amongst the women of Venezuela, of Guiana, of 
Paraguay, and the mountains of Peru. The copy 
of a portrait of a Gooagive unmarried girl of Vene- 



2 4& Pendent Ornaments. 

zuela illustrates this mode amongst the females ; 
and the long thorns projecting from her cheeks 
might almost be recommended for young ladies in 
the protectrice economy of civilized life ( Plate Xo. 20 ). 

Finishing this curious episode amongst the Ama- 
zons, we return again to the Tobos and Lengua, 
whom we left on the Uruguay. 




2D. 



The passion for ornamentation seems to belong 
to all the human race much alike ; whether they are 
clad in beautiful and costly stuffs, or are naked, the 
'passion seems to be the same. The Indians in the 
northern latitudes of North America, who dress in 
skins, wear their ornaments in paintings and em- 
broideries on their dresses. The Amazons, who wear 
no dresses, are equally vain, and expend their in- 
genuity and exhaust their means in ornamenting 



Deformation. 247 

their naked limbs, without an inch of dress upon 
them. They load their wrists and ancles with bright 
and costly bracelets and rings, and their necks 
and breasts and hair with beads, and paint their 
limbs and faces with beautiful colours. And what 
can be more beautiful ? what more proper ? 

But blocks, and thorns, and weights! What a 
mistake in taste ! And last of all, to flatten and 
elongate their skulls, like the Flatheads and Peru- 
vians, in order to look beautiful ! Oh, Vanity, thy 
name is (certainly) — Indian ! " Everything has its 
cause." It is easy to account for the love of orna- 
ment with paint and beads, and even blocks and 
thorns, but who can guess the cause of changing 
the shape of the skull to beautify " the human face 
Divine ?" There must be a cause for this. 

The Flathead tribe at the mouth of the Columbia, 
whose portraits I have shown (and also their mode 
of flattening the head) in Chapter 3, And the an- 
cient Peruvians, as we learn by their skulls, are the 
tribes that have ventured to deform nature for a 
form more beautiful in art. And is it exactly so ? 
I do not believe it. I do not believe that any part 
of the human family would venture such a stride 
from nature as to flatten the skull as the Flatheads 
do, or to compress it into a sugar-loaf, as the Peru- 
vians have done, without a model, without a fashion 
to follow — an Indian beau ideal to which they have 
aspired. Those beau ideals are seen in Plate No. 21 • 



2 4^ Deformation. 

Letter (a), a Crow of the Rocky Mountains, and (b), 
an alto-Peruvian of the Andes, the two great origi- 
nal fountains of American man, to whom all the 
tribes point as their origin, and on whom, of course, 





all the tribes have looked as the beau ideals of the 
Indian race. The Flathead, letter (c), aiming at 
the Crow-skull (like the copyists of most fashions), 
has carried the copy into caricature ; and the bas- 
Peruvian, letter (d), aiming at the elevated frontal 



Patagonia. 249 

of the mountain regions, has squeezed his up with 
circular bandages, to equally monstrous proportions. 

Not to make this chapter too long, I shut my 
note-book on the Lengua and Tobos Indians around 
us ; and shaking hands with them, a few days down- 
stream showed us the little band of Bocobies at the 
mouth of the Rio Negro of Uruguay, and after that 
the beautiful city of Buenos Ayres, and — where 
next ? 

" Patagonia and the Patagons, of course." The 
" Giants of Patagonia — ten feet high!" and the 
" Cannibals !" I did not believe such things, but 
would go and look for them through the centre of 
Patagonia and Terra del Fuego. But here this 
chapter ends, 



CHAPTER VII. 



BUENOS AYRES. 




ERE, in a boarding-house, in a comfort- 
able room looking on to the Plaza, and 
at home, of course, I was at work on 
my sketches. 
Alza came in, and softly behind him, and wrapped 
in a scarlet mantle, a handsome young man, a half- 
caste, rouged to the eyes, and his glossy hair, parted 
on his forehead, falling back upon his shoulders, 
and without a quill upon his head"; and in his wake, 
and more softly and timidly still, a young woman 
of the same colour, in a calico dress, her hair dressed 
in the same manner, the two looking effeminate 
enough, and enough alike, to have been sisters, 

Alza, with his hat in his hand, " bowed ' and 
scraped," and introduced them as brother and sister, 
of the Auca tribe, living on the head waters of the Rio" 
Salado, to the south of Buenos Ayres. Such was 
the suavity and gentleness of their manners as they 



A uca Indians. 2 5 1 

advanced and both shook hands with me, that I 
felt almost embarrassed. Alza had no doubt given 
them a high-coloured description of me and my 
works, and they were approaching me with a pro- 
found respect. 

Alza could speak somewhat of their language, 
and, what was better, the young man spoke Spanish 
very well, and his beautiful and modest sister well 
enough to be amusing and agreeable to me. They 
had learned enough from Alza to know the object 
of my travelling and the sincerity of my views, to 
enter into undisguised conversation about their own 
and other tribes of Indians in the vicinity, and con- 
versation took place, for the time, of my painting, 
and my brushes were laid down. 

I expressed my surprise at meeting red people in 
the city of Buenos Ayres, and particularly so beau- 
tiful a young lady, when Til-tee ("the Fire-fly " — I 
found that was her name)— replied quicker than her 
brother was able to do, " Oh, we often come here, 
senor, and there's a plenty of us here now; my 
father, and my mother, and my sister are all up 
town." 

Alzar then said, "This is a very respectable 
family, Senor Gonzales Borroro, he is a Portuguese 
gentleman, and his wife is an Auca woman. They 
live on the Rio Salado, and these are some of their 
children ; and if you will permit me, senor — I know 
they will be glad to see your paintings." 



2 5 2 Auca Indians. 

"Most certainly. Alzar, go and fetch them/" Alzar 
was off, and I went to amusing my visitors with 
my sketches. 

My portfolio of Indian portraits was giving so 
unthought-of and so exciting a pleasure to the & two, 
and particularly to that beautiful little creature who 
became more beautiful every time she turned, that 
I was in the midst of a peculiar satisfaction being 
taken to myself, when Alzar came in, with the rest 
of the family. 

This was the first day after my arrival in Buenos 
Ayres, and though I had several letters of intro- 
duction which I had not yet delivered, I spent the 
whole of that day with this interesting family, 
having learned, in the early part of my conversation 
with them, that their business was all settled, and 
their arrangements all made to start for their 
home on the Salado at an early hour the next 
morning. 

I gained from them a great deal of valuable and 
reliable information respecting their own tribe, and 
of their neighbours on the south, the Puelches and 
Patagons, with both of which tribes I found they 
were well acquainted, and with which they were 
living on terms of friendship. The Puelches and 
Aucas, both coming freely into Buenos Ayres, and 
trading for guns, ammunition, cloths, hardware, 
cutlery, &c, which they sell at a profit to the 
Patagons, who are sworn enemies to the Buenos 



Auca Indians, 253 

AyreanSj and never see them except on the field of 
battle. 

My cartoon portraits, which the)' could not see 
enough of, gave an unspeakable pleasure to these 
people, and those with flattened heads, and those 
with blocks of wood in the lip, seemed to excite 
with a people who wear few ornaments, equally 
disgust and astonishment. They told me they 
never had thought that any Indians were such 
great fools. 

Borroro and his son gave me such a glowing 
description of the country where they lived, of the 
beauty of the forests, the lakes, the prairies and 
pampas ; of the chasing of ostriches, wild horses 
and wild cattle, which they kill for their hides and 
their hair, as well as the beautiful games of the 
Indians, and, at the end of all, so pressing an in- 
vitation to come and see, and to join in them, that 
I told them distinctly that Alzar and I would ride 
there before a fortnight was out. 

This evidently gave them great pleasure, and the 
father said that both he and his son would join me 
in any or all of the sports of the country, if I 
would come. I told him I had long had an inten- 
tion of making a journey through the middle of 
the Puelche and Patagon tribes, to Terra del Fuego, 
and he believed that from that place on the Salado, 
which would be 150 miles directly on the route, 
would be the proper point to start from ; and that, 



2 54 A ma Indians. 

if I chose, his son, who was an excellent horseman 
and hunter, and knew well the Puelches and the 
Patagons, should be one of the party, and could 
easily get me any number of first-rate young men 
around him to join me. 

"Well done," said I, "Alzar, my troubles are 
all over, I see our way now clearly; we'll go through 
the centre of Patagonia." 

Borroro was himself half an Indian (his father a 
Portuguese planter), and, therefore, with all the 
vanity that usually belongs peculiarly to the half- 
caste class, and with the strict traits of honour that 
generally characterize them also ; and I thereupon 
said to him and his Indian wife, " There is one thing 
now that I want to ask of you— I want you to allow 
me to make a sketch of Til-tee, your beautiful 
daughter— the day is half gone, and I will not have 
time to finish it very well, but I will bring it 
with me and finish it when I come to see you ; she 
is so pretty that I don't wish to forget how she 
looks." 

The extreme overjoy of the mother seemed as if 
she had, in a measure, misunderstood the arrange- 
ment I had asked for, and no objections being 
made, and no conditions named, I went to work. 
The timid little girl said she was sorry that she 
had not her prettiest dress on. I told her that was 
no matter, it was not the dress I wanted, it was her 
pretty face and neck only, and if I could paint that 



Auca Indians. 255 

part now, the dress could be painted when I should 
see her again. 

The mother, sagacious enough to understand this, 
and flattered with my admiration of her daughter, 
stepped up, and pulling her arms out of the sleeves 
of her loose calico dress, which fell down upon her 
lap, exclaimed, "There ! that's the way she is when 
at home." And oh ! what a pretty creature, what 
a beautiful bust was before me! What an ugly veil 
was drawn from hidden beauty ! and drawn by 
whom ? by the hand of a savage ; a savage who 
knew its worse than savage ugliness ! And oh, how 
I worked. And when my work was done, "one 
thing more " I wanted, and they granted it. I 
wanted to walk with them to a jeweller's shop in 
the corner of the plaza, where, old man as I was, 
I could not forego the pleasure I had of buying, 
and placing in her ears, with my own fingers, a 
brilliant pair of pendents, for which she prettily 
tried to express (but could not well enough in 
Spanish) what her brother interpreted to me, " that 
her heart w r as thankful for the rich present I had 
made her." Night was at hand, and "Buenas 
noches," " a Dios," &c, and we parted. 

I had commissioned the young man, Gos-brok, 
not to buy, but to look up, and have ready for my 
negotiation when I should arrive, the best horse in 
the country for my tour through Patagonia ; an 
animal of the best bottom and speed, and well 



2 5& Rio Salado, 

trained to the chase of ostriches, horses, guanacos, 
or anything else ; and the two or three weeks 
previous to our start I passed by working on my 
numerous shetches, and making the necessary pre- 
parations for our campaign, 

My spirits were a good deal depressed during 
this time by reports, made to me by my friends, 
that there was a prospect of an approaching war 
between Buenos Ayres and the Patagon Indians, 
which would render my expedition to Patagonia im- 
possible, as these people know no white people but 
the Buenos Ayreans, and would make no distinction 
between me and them, provided I were endeavour- 
ing to enter their country under such circumstances. 

I nevertheless got my preparations made, and 
even against the advice of friends, with Alzar, 
started for the banks of the Salado, Our ride was 
a severe one, and much longer than we had appre- 
hended, but the country one of continued interest 
as we passed. Xot on the bank of the Salado, but 
a great way beyond it, we found the rancho of 
our new-made friends, and by and around them 
many families of the small and handsome Auca 
Indians. 

The tribe is small, having been decimated by 
whiskey and the small-pox, and though partly civi- 
lized, are still living principally by the chase. Game 
of man}- kinds is always abundant in their country, 
and easily killed ; and wild horses and wild cattle 



Atica Village. 



in countless numbers, which they kill for their hides 
and hair, which find a ready market in Buenos Ayres. 

All were rejoiced to see us in performance of the 
pomise I had made, and particularly so the pretty 
little "Fire-fly" who was parading her sparkling 
ear-drops — and also the rather unfortunate mother, 
who, we learned (but not till some time after), had 
overheard, but misunderstood, the arrangement 
made between her husband and myself in Buenos 
Ayres, as to hunting ostriches, &c, and which ar- 
rangement, fearing an announcement of it for two 
or three weeks a-head would bring an unwished-for 
assemblage of Indian sportsmen around him, he 
had charged his wife to say nothing about. 

Under the wrong impression which the poor 
woman got when I asked permission to take her 
daughter's portrait, w T hich was that I had asked her 
hand in marriage, and afterwards under the injunc- 
tion "to say nothing about it," she was keeping 
(as will be seen) the supposed important secret pro- 
foundly safe, and, as can be imagined, was not the 
least joyful of the family on our arrival. 

The Aucas are not only a small tribe, but a tribe 
of small people, and, a singular fact, the men and 
women near the same size ; and resemble each 
other so much in stature, in form, and features, and 
in the mode of arranging their hair on their always 
naked heads, that it is often difficult to distinguish 
one sex from the other, 

S 



258 My Indian Horse " Yudolph" 

They wear but little dress in the summer season, 
and that chiefly of civilized manufacture ; of calicos 
and other cotton cloths. The men often wear 
ponchaSj and the women, in the warm season, are 
naked as low as the waist, from which drops an 
apron of cotton extending as low as the knee ; and 
wear a sort of sandal or half mocasin, made of 
goat's skin, or skin of the guanaco. In this really 
pretty way I found the handsome little "Til-tee" 
dressed, and freed from the horrible folds of pictured 
calico, she was free and graceful, and more beauti- 
ful than ever. 

The young man, Gos-brok, lost no time in inform- 
ing me that he had found the best horse in the 
country for me, without the least trouble — that it 
belonged to his father ; a Mustang — taken by his 
own hand on the pampa, and trained in the chase 
by himself: that his father had ten horses, and this 
one, his favourite, he had resolved to sell to me, I 
gave him his price, 1 50 piastres, and the laso was in 
my hand. A noble creature — an entire horse. I 
could imagine him " Charley" — but he wanted the 
colour ; he was a silver grey, his mane and tail were 
black, and the latter swept the ground. 

The sagacious animal seemed to know, from the 
moment his owner put the rein in my hand, that he 
had got a new master ; and from my caressing, and 
combing, and trimming, evidently was soon convinced 
of the fact. A mutual understanding was soon 



His First Experience of Gunpowder. 259 

established between us — -several little excursions 
we made together about the neighbourhood, and 
yet there was one unthought-of and necessary condi- 
tion to be understood and arranged which "Yudolph" 
(that was the name he answered to), nor his former 
master, had probably ever heard of. 

Horses in that country, and ostriches and guanacos 
and other animals are taken with the laso and bolas, 
and no guns are ever fired from a horse's back for 
anything. Colt's revolvers had not at that time 
travelled so far, and horses knew just as much of 
them as their masters ; the amusement of which 
remained yet to be afforded to the one, and the 
alarm and astonishment to be presented to the other. 
In short, " Yudolph " had got to smell gunpowder, 
and the Aucas to understand revolvers. 

" Sam," for the first time in that region of 
country, was taken from its case, and in the wigwam, 
in a little time, was partly comprehended ; but for 
" Yudolph," it was to become a more inexplicable 
mystery. In the rashness and thoughtlessness of 
my inexperience, being then only fifty-seven years 
of age, it had not occurred to me that " Yudolph," 
though a bold hunter and warrior, as he had been, 
had probably never heard the sound of a gun ; and, 
under this lack of intelligence, I mounted him with 
" Sam " in hand, in presence of his former master 
and Alzar, and the pretty little Til-tee, to see, as I 
said,' how he would "stand fire," for my game had 



260 Shooting from YudolpJis back I 

got to be taken, and my battles fought, not with 
laso and bolas, but with gunpowder. 

I certainly was a pretty good rider as well as a 
good shot, by this time ; and galloping him around 
in a curve or two, I fired a cylinder to the left ! — 
and the next thing that I was sensible of was that 
Borroro and Alzar had hold of me and were carrying 
me towards the rancho. 

I said, "Hold on — I am not hurt Where's 

Yudolph?" 

" He's yonder, senor." 

And at a distance of thirty rods I saw him stand- 
ing broad-side — his head and tail up — a beautiful 
picture, as he stood gazing at us and wondering 
what had taken place. His master walked towards 
him and called him, "Yudolph!" when the faithful 
creature advanced, and met him half way. He led 
him up and put the rein again in my hand, and the 
trembling brute seeming to think there had been 
some accident, followed my motions as willingly as 
before. 

"Where's 'Sam'?" said I. 

" Here !" said Alzar, as he handed it to me in two 
pieces ! the stock broken off below the guard, not 
injuring the lock in any way. 

"Where's the saddle?" 

"Here, senor," said Borroro; "the girth is 
broken, and by that means you fell." 

" I know that — saddles have thrown me many 
times, but no horse can do it." 



How learnt to "stand fire." 261 

" Is your rifle loaded, Alzar?" 
" Yes, senor." 

" Just give it to me then, and your bullet-pouch 
and powder-cartridges, if you have any." 

Alzar handed me his rifle and three or four 
powder-cartridges, and placing my nose to the 
nostrils of the trembling animal, and exchanging a 
few breaths to inspire him with confidence, I threw 
myself upon his naked back, and galloping the same 
rounds as before, I fired the minie to the left — kept 
the horse upon his course, re-loaded and fired again, 
and again, as if I were in a buffalo chase on the Mis- 
souri, or in mortal combat, and as easily, and with 
as accurate an aim, as if I had been firing from the 
back of " old Chouteau," my buffalo chaser at the 
mouth of Yellow Stone. 

" Huzza ! huzza! bravo! bravo!" exclaimed the 
bystanders ; and trembling " Yudolph," as I rode 
him up, seemed to take one-half at least of the 
applause to himself. And last, though not the 
least complimentary and welcome, came the nice 
old lady, from where she had sat in the door of her 
house, who extended her hand, and showed me, by 
the expressions of her face, that she was taking to 
herself a peculiar satisfaction at the successful and 
laudable feats of her (as she still supposed) approach- 
ing son-in-law. 

" Yudolph" now understood something of gun- 
powder, and was ready for the chase. He had long 



262 



Ostrich Chase. 



since, under his former master, learned how to run 
and how to approach ; and I, who had long since 
learned how to shoot, with " Sam" in hand and a 
six-shot revolver in my belt, was considered equal 
to a war-party. But where was Sam ? Sent oft" by 
a little son of mine host to a small village on the 
river, some twenty miles distant, where a country 
blacksmith bound the two parts together, and it 
came back, not as handsome, nor as light, but quite 
as strong as ever. 

After a few days spent in and about the little 
Auca village, the appointed day approached for a 
u grand hunt" — an ostrich chase. The young man, 
Gos-brok, had told me in Buenos Ayres that he 
knew of a tine brood that had been hatched and 
raised within a few miles, as yet unmolested, and 
just about old enough for sport. This he had told 
me in my painting-room, when the father and 
mother were sitting by, and just when I had ob- 
tained their consent to have the daughter, painted ; 
and the old lady, from her imperfect knowledge of 
Spanish, understanding but a word or two of what 
he had said, nodded assent, as in the other cases, 
supposing we were still talking of Til-tec, whilst the 
rest of us were thinking of ostriches. 

This ''hatch" was also known to Gonzales Borroro 
(his father), who now told me they would be found 
in the edge of the thistles, near the head of the 
" red water," one of the extreme sources of the 
Salado, and in the pampa, 



Ostrich Chase. 263 

The pampas in various parts of South America 
are vast level plains, not unlike the great prairies 
of the Platte and the Arkansas excepting that they 
are covered with high weeds instead of short grass ; 
and amongst these weeds, of which there are many 
kinds, there are wild flowers of all colours. And 
on the eastern borders of the great pampas, stretch- 
ing off from Buenos Ayres to Patagonia on the 
south, and to the base of the Andes on the west, 
there are vast forests of thistles, which, sometimes 
for a great many miles together, though they grow 
in patches, and as high as a horse's back, are almost 
impassable, even for a man on horseback. 

These thistles are the covers and asylums for the 
ostrich, which feeds mostly out in the open plains 
and in the ravines ; and when pursued, runs to the 
thistles for cover, where it is excessively difficult to 
follow it. 

The plan of our day's sport was to ride about ten 
miles before sunrise, and break upon the brood 
whilst they were feeding in the open plain ; and if 
not successful in that, to drive a thistle patch of 
several miles in circumference, forcing the game to 
cross an intervening prairie of two or three miles to 
enter another thistle cover, and in which plain our 
run would take place. 

Borroro laid the plans and took the lead, riding 
a beautiful pied horse, his bolas coiled upon his left 
arm, and a laso, in loops, around his horse's neck. 



264 Ostrich Chase. 

His son, Gos-brok, and two other young men, well 
mounted and equipped in the same way, and Alzar 
with his minie rifle, and I with " Sam" in hand, and 
a six-shot revolver in my belt, formed the " hunters" 
of the party; and some six or eight Indians, 
mounted but not armed, followed in our train, as 
drivers of the thistles. 

I have before said that sportsmen in this country 
hunt without guns. The bolas— the " deadly 
bolas!" a thing imagined in the powder-burning 
world, and yet but little understood. Let us know 
more about it and its deadly powers before we go 
further— before we see these true sportsmen playing 
with the flock of birds before us. (We will come 
back to this play-day anon). 

" Borroro lives by killing and by catching horses, 
and others of my people live by killing cattle." So 
said Borroro to me ; and two weeks after this play- 
day on which we have commenced, I went with 
Borroro and party of ten, to see the deadly works 
of the bolas amongst a band of wild horses that had 
been reported on the plains near the head of the 
Rio Saladillo. 

Driven by drought upon the vast pampas, these 
animals often come in thousands together to the 
extreme sources of the river's rising in the plains, 
to get water ; and sometimes, the Indians tell us, 
die by thousands and rot upon the pampas before 
they reach it. 



J 



Killing Wild Horses with Bo las. 265 

A circuit of ten days, in which I lost much flesh, 
though I had no flesh to spare, satisfied all the 
passion I ever had to witness the extreme of Indian 
endurance, the deadliness of the bolas, and its havoc 
amongst the noble tenants of the pampas. 

The bolas is a raw-hide cord (and, of course, 
of great strength, though very small), somewhat in 
the form of the capital letter T ; each of the three 
branches being some eight or ten feet in length, 
and having a leaden ball of half a pound weight at 
its end. This is carried in a coil on the rider's left 
arm, or on the horse's withers, and when in the 
heat of the chase the rider raises it and swings it in 
a rotary motion around and above his head, by 
holding one of the balls in his hand. His horse is 
trained to approach its game on the right hand side, 
that the missile may be thrown with its fullest force 
and accuracy ; and at the proper distance, the balls 
are sent forward with a force and tact that keeps 
them revolving in the air, and their centrifugal force 
keeping the cords straight, till one or the other 
of the cords strikes the animal's neck, it matters not 
which, for in an instant they all wrap around its 
neck and legs, and binding both and all together, 
the animal falls upon its head, and generally the 
neck is broken by the fall ; if not, before the instant 
is out its hamstrings are cut by a long and semi- 
circular-bladed lance, and its chances for life are 
ended. (Plate No. 22). 



266 



Ostrich Chase. 



In battle, an enemy's arms are thus wrapped to 
his sides, or his body wrapped to the neck and the 
legs of his horse, and both go to the ground to- 
gether ! 

In this hunt (or massacre), to which I have no 
more space to devote, twenty horses were killed ; 
their skins, with the manes and tails attached, were 
stripped off, and on the backs of mules were trans- 
ported to the Indian village. 

This chase was for skins and hair only, and the 
lasos were not used. When death is wanted, the 
bolas is taken in hand. When the Auca or the 
Puelche Indian wants a horse for service, the affec- 
tionate laso is dropped over its neck, and it is 
broken in and domesticated much in the manner of 
the North American Indians, described in the first 
volume of this work. 

Mounted and equipped, as has been related, for 
the ostrich chase, we were assembled at and around 
the rancho of Gonzales Borroro, a little before the 
dawn of day. 

Til-tee was up and dressed (the little she had 
was soon put on), and her fond mother was there 
too, and, from a wooden bowl, filled my pockets 
with dried prunes, delightful to eat in the chase, 
when water is scarce. She patted Yudolph on the 
neck and the nose, examined the girth of my saddle 
closely, and saluted me with a waive of the hand, 



Ostrich Chase. 267 

and a long " ya — ya — a" as I rode off, evidently 
afraid that I should be thrown from Yudolph's back, 
and perhaps my neck broken. 

At that time I could not more than half com- 
prehend such marked kindness, and such peculiar 
solicitude, but gave the good woman credit for it, and 
received it as a very strong expression of hospitality. 

We were off, and galloped over our ten miles 
pretty quick, and getting near to the ground for 
our sport, it was necessary to follow up for a mile 
or two the bed of a small stream, forming a little 
grass-covered valley, lower by some twenty or thirty 
feet than the surface of the level platform on which 
our game was expected to be discovered. 

Borroro and myself, leaving the rest of the part}' 
in the valley to await our signals, rode up the 
embankment as quietly as we could., under cover 
of some hazel-bushes and thistles standing on a 
projecting point, to reconnoitre the plains about, of 
which we had a perfect view for several miles. 

Discovering nothing, after a careful search, we 
stepped our horses out into the open prairie, and 
hearing the signal whistle of his son, which he 
understood, "here they come!" said Borroro, as he 
was wheeling his horse about, and the whole troop, 
with their necks stretched, and their wings up, were 
breaking from a copse of willow on the bank of the 
stream, where they had been for water, had passed 
our companions, who were mostly dismounted, and 



268 



Ostrich Chase. 



were now steering for the thistles, exactly in a 
straight line towards us, and with our fellow sports- 
men in their wake, as fast as they could get their 
feet in the stirrups. 

" Stand!" said Borroro, " we can do nothing in 
meeting them, we must get behind them." And 
moving his horse back into the bushes, at his signal 
I followed him. 

It was a beautiful sight, there were about twenty 
in the troop, two coveys united. They rose the 
hill within a few rods of us., and the plunging che- 
valiers were a long distance behind them. K Now!" 
said Borroro, " don't try to shoot, but lay out 
Yudolph to his utmost, we must cut them off be- 
fore they reach that thistle patch, or we lose them:" 
Both Borroro and myself were at our extremest, 
and side by side, as if on a race-course. The 
"thistle patch " was half a mile or more. Yudolph 
headed him by several lengths, and yet the running- 
flying troop, on their tip-toes, turned the point of 
thistles before us, and were out of sight in an in- 
stant. 

All hands again together, and out of breath from 
the sudden brush, a dismount and a "'council of 
war" was the next thing. That we should have 
passed the whole troop in so thoughtless and care- 
less a manner within two or three hundred yards, 
in the valley, was an affair so provoking, and so 
humiliating to all, that the first part of our counsel 



Ostrich Chase. 269 

was taken up with groans and exclamations of dis- 
appointment and regret, and afterwards we pro- 
ceeded to plans for bringing our labours to better 
results. 

If Borroro and I had been a few rods further 
ahead in our chase, we should have cut them off 
from the thistles, and turned them loose upon an 
open prairie of several miles, where the ground was 
good, and where our sport would have been of the 
first order. " However," said Borroro, "well have it 
all right yet — there's the south prairie — well turn 
them into it — it's just as good." 

The "south prairie" (or llano, as they call it) 
was another open, grassy plain of several miles in 
extent, stretching off between the forest of thistles 
into which our game had plunged, and another 
similar forest further to the south. Our plan now 
was for the hunters of our party to ride around 
some five or six miles, and in this prairie, on its 
northern border, to take our positions at equal dis- 
tances, under cover of the edging thistles, and await 
the breaking of cover, which was to be produced 
by our staff of "drivers," who were to enter the 
thicket, and work their way through it from the 
north. 

Signal whistles were to be blown when the birds 
were well entered on the prairie, for the drivers to 
appear as soon after as possible on the prairie's 
border, to prevent them from returning to the 



2;o Driving the Thistles. 

thistles, and not until their appearance was the chase 
to begin. 

We all sat close and silent, and at length (it was 
a curious sight) the older and wiser birds appeared 
first, and led the way, tilting and crouching along 
as they cautiously emerged, and their long necks 
stretched, examining the prairie before them to see 
if an enemy was on it ; moving as if they suspected 
the plot, and, the younger of the broods following, 
they advanced a long distance into the prairie, and 
laid down, some upon their bellies, and others upon 
their sides, hiding their heads behind bunches of 
leaves and tufts of grass, whilst the whole of their 
fat and round bodies loomed up in full view and 
exposed. 

Our "drivers" came out and showed themselves 
at different points, and at the sound of Borroro s 
whistle we all started. The poor birds (which 
Borroro subsequently assured me had all shut their 
eyes), from the tramp of our horses, which they 
heard with their heads on the ground, announced 
our approach, and they were up and off. We were 
now in the chase, — a an ostrich chase." 

They started in a group, and ran, not in a circuit 
or a curve, but stretched their necks in a straight 
line for the nearest thicket, perhaps at a distance 
of two miles. No manceuvering, and nothing but a 
fair and a straight race offered us any chance, and 
for the first half a mile was thus contested with 



The Troop in "Full Cryl" 271 

equal speed, when the tremendous strides of mad- 
dened Yudolph, in spite of all the poor creatures 
could do, brought me into the midst of them, with 
Borroro but a length or two in arrear, and on their 
right flank. At my first cylinder one of them fell, 
and, probably, from the sound of the gun, they 
broke and run in all directions. The sport then 
became beautiful, each rider, crossing their curves, 
came upon them. I saw them writhing and strug- 
gling in the deadly coils of the bolas, and recognized 
the "old mime's" voice in the melee. It was now a 
" running fight," a leaping and dodging for life with 
some, and others were leading off in straight lines 
for the thicket, and some got there — but few. 
Every one was attending to his own business, and 
it was difficult to see or to know exactly what was 
actually progressing. 

When the field was cleared, however, and there 
was nothing more to be done, though we were se- 
parated, in some instances, several miles apart, we 
got breath by resting awhile in our saddles, or by 
dismounting and lying on the ground, and at length 
got together on the field, our drivers having been 
whistled up to carry our game. 

I have joined in the buffalo chase in all its forms, 
but never before took part in a chase so difficult as 
this. After the brood was separated, they ran in 
all directions, darting in zig-zag and curved lines 
before and around us, leading our horses into angles 



272 Results of Ostrich Chase. 

difficult to turn, and the rider into positions from 
which he could not use his weapons. Our horses, 
at the end, as if they had run a five-mile heat, like 
ourselves, were ready to lie down upon the ground 
for rest. 

My two first shots killed, but I discharged the 
other four cylinders all upon the same bird, but 
without effect, owing to its shifting courses, and the 
consequent irregular and violent motions of my 
horse. My two first shots, which were fatal, were 
given while both the bird and the horse were run- 
ning on a straight line, which made the aim more 
steady and more sure. My third bird worried me 
and my horse by its crooked lines until it reached 
the thistles, and I returned without it. 

Borroro picked up three, and his son brought in 
two. The other two Indians had three between 
them taken with lasos, and Alzar had fired once 
and missed. 

Our birds, therefore, counted up, were ten. The 
ostriches that we killed, called in that country 
" nandu," were about one half the size of the Afri- 
can ostrich, with three toes instead of two ; and 
their feathers comparatively of little value. Their 
wings were cut off and carried, and their legs for 
the sinews ; and the skins of several of them were 
taken for sacks, useful for many purposes, and their 
carcasses were left on the field. 

The ten pairs of wings were elevated on two long 



The Grand Saline. 273 

poles by two of the Indians, as we rode triumph- 
antly into the village under shouts of applause. 
Little Til-tee s voice and hands were raised amongst 
the number, and the good mother, when she heard 
from her husband how I had performed, patted me 
on the shoulder, exclaiming, " Bueno ! bueno !— 
inuy bueno, senor !" thinking perhaps to herself of 
what nobody but herself had yet thought of. 

The grand features of this vast and untilled coun- 
try, in addition to its pampas and prairies, are its 
lakes, its salines, and its sables. Its sandy (or 
" cedar ridge"), lying off towards the Rio Negro, is 
full of guanacos, a species of llamas, beautiful for 
chasing, and almost the only sport and living of the 
Puelches and Patagons. Its flesh is equal to that 
of venison, and the skins form leggings and robes 
for clothing, and, sewed together, form coverings 
for their tents. We planned a run amongst them, 
but now are taking a look at the " Grand Saline." 

Gos-brok, the chief's son, was to lead us. Alzar 
was going, and two Indians. The ride was thirty 
miles — one day's work. One day to be spent there, 
and two days to come back, examining the " talk- 
ing lake" and shooting ducks on our way. We 
laid in salt (we actually required nothing else). I 
promised the little Til-tee to bring her some beauti- 
ful feathers, which could not be reached by bolas or 
laso, and she was in raptures, and the mother again 
stuffed my pockets with dried prunes. 



274 A Runaway Horse. 

Our horses were led up, but not yet saddled, and 
Alzar's nag from Buenos Ayres, ruminating perhaps 
on the uncouth manners of people in this part of 
the country, slipped its head out of its bridle, and 
evidently was turning its face towards the civilized 
city. Alzar mounted on to one of the Indian's 
horses, and, with a laso in his hand, with which he 
was tolerably expert, he galloped off after it. A 
broad prairie was before us, and making a circuit, 
to get a head of his eloping horse, and making 
several passes at it, the cunning animal showed its 
heels, and effectually kept out of his way. 

The scene was an amusement for all, and all 
were astonished at the desperate bolts and curves 
made by both, to no effect, excepting the complete 
discouragement of Alzar, who seemed to be aban- 
doning the chase in despair, to return to the village. 

I stood at the moment holding Yudolph, yet un- 
saddled, with the bridle in both hands crossed be- 
hind me, and feeling a gentle pressure upon the 
rein, I looked around and met the sparkling eyes of 
the smiling little Til-tee, by their very expression 
emphatically and silently asking consent as she was 
timidly drawing the rein of Yudolph out of my hand. 
The instant allowed me was just enough to yield 
consent, and to see that she had a laso coiled on 
her left arm, when Yudolph had her astride of his 
bare back, and was off, in his clear and flying 
bounds ! 



" Til-tee' in Pursuit. 275 

A shout of surprise was raised, but no one had 
fears but myself. The father smiled, the mother 
gazed, and the child rode on ! And as her floating 
black hair and narrow shoulders of demi-red were 
alternately rising and sinking above and in the 
waving grass, I thought, u Oh, lucky, envied horse ! 
Were I in Yudolph's place with such a prize, I 
would gallop to the golden coast." She seemed 
troubled ; her hair had lost its pin, and fell in two 
parted waves over her shoulders ; and, dropping the 
rein to adjust it (for it was in her way), oh, how 
gracefully she balanced, and how prettily her pointed 
breasts and her elbows stood out, as she was wrap- 
ping and tieing it around her neck ! 

Yudolph, though knowing his errand and his 
rider, had kept his speed, but not exactly his course. 
The rein was lifted again, and the mile that she and 
Yudolph then made in a straight line was like a 
flying arrow, leaving a tinged train from its red- 
dened feather. Alzar was passed, and stood 
astounded, as if a meteor had gone by him ! The 
Buenos Ayrean steed, aware of what was behind 
him, steamed at his highest, and just before they 
would have slipped from our view, the delicate arm 
of the little Amazone (for with my pocket-glass I 
could see it distinctly) made a circuit around and 
over her head, and the fatal noose was seen to fall ! 
A shout was raised, but she was too far to hear it. 
Yudolph was seen galloping a curve or two with the 



276 Ride to Grand Saline. 

Buenos Ayrean nag by his side, like a boat picked 
up on the waves of the sea, and taking Alzar in 
tow, all came trotting in together. 

Alzar looked distressed, but said the Indian horse 
he rode knew he was not an Indian ; his Buenos 
Ayrean steed showed an expression of utter despair, 
and a full conviction of Yudolph's superior mettle ; 
and ever-beaming little Til-tee dismounted, and 
with her smiling cheeks and heaving breast re- 
ceived the applause of all, and from me a kiss — I 
could not help it — and a beautiful pocket looking- 
glass, set in silver. 

Our ride to the " Grand Saline " w r as yet before 
us, and, our saddles on, we started. An hour or so, 
and we were at the shore of another branch of the 
Salado; into it, and through its clear waters, and 
over its pebbly bottom we waded — reminding me of 
Caesar and me in the Snake River. As we passed 
over these clear and transparent waters quietly on 
their way to the ocean, I contemplated the vast and 
unknown solitudes of grass and thistles in which they 
had their origin, and rising the terraced banks and 
slopes on the opposite side, the ancient turns and 
motions of the elements when these vast excava- 
tions were dredged out. 

We were beyond it, and on an elevated plain of 
grass, with wild-flowers that no pencil could por- 
tray and no pen could describe. We were evidently 
on a divide — a water-shed, and looking to the south 



Grand Saline. 



2" 



convinced us ; a vast and interminable lake or sea 
seemed to be lying in distance before us, here and 
there spotted with green, like islands, which proved 
to be shrubbery, but at last terminating, like every- 
thing else, blue in the distance, and yet not all 
blue — there were streaks of white. And in the sky, 
what's that ? An army of soldiers ? Soldiers are 
not in the sky. It's a mirage. It's the mirage of 
a war-party ; and yonder is another, drawn out in 
Indian hie! It must be so! But stop! these soldiers 
are pouring down like a stream into the lake of blue 
and white below ; and now this shadow passing by 
us! 

"Now look up, senor; here is another war-party 
right over our heads ! " 

"And so it is. And now I understand; these are 
the beautiful birds, the flamingos, that you are 
taking me to see." 

" Yes, senor ; that blue lake that you see in the 
distance is the 'Grand Saline} and the streaks of 
white are the beautiful birds hatching out their eggs. 
This is just the season, and to-morrow you shall 
have fun enough." 

From the summit of the graceful swell upon 
which we had mounted we gradually and almost 
imperceptibly descended for several miles, until we 
were near the border of this vast saline ; when, 
whispering, Aizar begged us to halt for a moment. 
I held his horse as he dismounted, and cautiously 



278 Fireflies. 

advancing a few rods, he raised his rifle and shot 
down a solitary guanaco that had stood its ground 
and was looking at us, precisely at the place where 
we were going to sleep, and when fresh meat was 
wanted. 

We were now on a level with the saline, and 
could see little but the constant flocks of flamineos 

o 

sailing about like infantry, or like war-parties on 
the march. These, constantly rising and get- 
ting high into the air, were steering off to other 
parts, or were streaming down into the saline to 
spend the night. 

We collected great quantities of dried willow- 
stalks for fuel, and with a rousing fire on each side 
of us. and a smoke from burning" rotten orass we 
kept off the mosquitos, but greatly to their dis- 
appointment. Their hour arrived, about ten o'clock, 
they were silent, and we walked forth in the cool 
air unmolested, and unattracted or amused, except 
by the clacking and chattering of the wild-fowl of 
these saline solitudes and the incredible beauty of 
the firefly halos that were here and there glowing 
like the light of hidden lamps. 

Everywhere and all around us these little insects, 
each one carrying his beautiful phosphor lamp, were 
making their curves, and swinging, and dancing 
under our noses, and sometimes against them ; and 
here and there, in the distance, swarms with myriads 
in a little space moving in the air, or settled and 



Salt Lakes. 279 

hovering in the grass and around the bushes, where 
my note-book was read as easily as by daylight, or 
under the brightest lamp. 

These swarms, some stationary and others tra- 
velling", could be seen in the distance until their 
numbers became countless, and a general flood of 
light near the ground almost extinguished the dark- 
ness of night. 1 

The salines, of which there are many on the 
head waters of the Salado and Saladillo, and also 
further south, near the Colorado, and between that 
and the Rio Negro, are evidently the remains of 
salt lakes, in time filled in with growing and decay- 
ing vegetation. There are still, around the extreme 
sources of the Salado, a great number of salt lakes 
without any connection with running streams, 
either into or^out of them. 

These salines, in the winter season, are generally 
covered with several feet of salt water, which rises 
from the earth, and in the summer season this water 
is evaporated by the rays of the sun, leaving an in- 
crustration of the muriate of salt over much of the 
surface, and other parts a slimy mud associated 
with salt, so excessively difficult to travel on and so 

1 What an ornament these beautiful and harmless insects 
would be to a nobleman's or gentleman's grounds in England; 
how beautifully they would light up his lawn. They could 
easily be imported, and the climate of England would, no 
doubt, be suitable for them, 



280 Flamingos Nests. 

nauseous that no animal whatever will venture into 
it, and none of the feathered tribes except the stork 
species, of which are the flamingos. They build their 
nests and hatch their young in it, in perfect security 
from molestation by animals of the country. 

It is probably owing to this perfect security to 
their eggs and their young, that incredible numbers 
of these birds are seen in that country, often settling 
down, and rising, and wading in these salines, and 
sailing about over them in millions at the same 
time. 

The flamingo, which is one of the most delicate 
and beautiful birds in existence, varies from four to 
five feet in height ; its chief colour is pure white, 
with parts of its wings of the most flaming red, and 
another proportion jet black. 

They gather grass and weeds, with which they 
build their nests on the ground, and stiffen them 
up with mud, much in the manner that swallows 
build. These nests stand in the mud, and are 
generally about one foot high, open cones, and 
from two to three feet apart ; and sometimes cover 
hundreds of acres, looking from a distant elevation 
like a mass of honeycomb. 

In the winter season these nests are all under 
water, and not seen. In the summer, when the 
water is evaporated, they re-appear, and the birds, 
taking possession, fit them up, and hatch their 
broods in them again. The birds are always paired, 



I 



A " Grand Exposition" 281 

and the male is busily engaged in hunting and 
bringing food., or standing by on one leg and sleep- 
ing whilst the female is sitting on her eggs. Do- 
mestic rights seem to be guarded with the greatest 
jealousy, and, from their frequent encounters, one 
would suppose they were protected with the most 
obstinate and heroic gallantry. 

From our bivouac we saddled up in the morning., 
and rode to a slight eminence, the nearest we could 
see to the nests, and from that, overlooking the 
scene with a good field-glass, the picture was one of 
interest for hours to look upon ; it was truly a 
-Grand Exposition '—grand for its industry of 
millions, all busy, building, hatching, and feeding- 
grand for its proportions, extending, perhaps, some 
twenty miles in length— and grand for the beauty 
of its colours ; for the sun was just up, and its hori- 
zontal rays, catching upon the bending columns 
soaring in the air, and on the never-ending group, 
where thousands were constantly playing on tip-toe 
with up-spread wings, and all, the red, the black, 
and the white, glistening, like the slimy mud they 
walked and run and played upon, with the sun's 
refracted rays. 

My glass was good, but perhaps I am more in- 
quisitive than other folks— I wanted a nearer view, 
Reconnoitring the ground closely, though we were 
full a mile from the nearest part of it, I discovered 
a sort of promontory of grass and bog, with now 



282 « Walking Bushes. ' ' 

and then little tufts of willows, extending into the 
saline, and very near to where the nests commenced. 
One of the little Indians who had accompanied us 
(half negro) told me he could lead me near enough 
to shoot amongst them. He said he had sometimes 
walked up so near to them as to catch them with 
the bolas. "Xome on, then," said I. We left the 
rest of the part}' to overlook us ; we were in the 
chase (or rather ruse). 

Advancing about half the way, we came to a 
bunch of alder and willow-bushes,, and in a few 
minutes he had cut and so arranged a screen of 
those, to carry in both hands before him, as com- 
pletely to hide him from their view, and also to 
screen me, as I was to walk close up to him, step- 
ping in his footsteps, My hat was left behind, and 
my belt was filled with boughs rising higher than 
my head, and with others descending to my feet, 
so that we were ostensibly (at least for silly birds') 
nothing but a bunch of bushes. 

My cylinders, which my friend Colonel Colt had 
shaped expressly for shot and ball, I had filled 
with duck-shot, and we began to move forward in 
a straight line, but very slowly, Full half a mile, 
almost inch by inch, the bunch of bushes moved. 
Sometimes Ave were on, or astride of, bogs, and 
sometimes up to our waistbands in mud, and igno- 
rant of the moment that might have taken us to 
the chin. 



Shooting Flamingos. 283 

However, "nothing risked, nothing won." We 
kept on, and at length came within some rive or six 
rods of the nearest nests, where the females were 
setting on their eggs, and the husbands standing on 
one leg by them and fast asleep, whilst others were 
gathering worms from the mud and bringing to feed 
them ! 

The silly things looked hard at us as an un- 
accountable appearance, but the bunch of bushes not 
apparently moving, they seemed to think it was but 
the natural. I had no chance to sketch, as " Sam ' 
was before me in both hands, and motions would 
have been imprudent ; but I had the most perfect 
chance to see and to study (to sketch in my mind) 
every attitude and every characteristic. 

At length one of the tallest of the throng, with 
his mouth full of collected worms, seeming to be 
suspicious, advanced quite up to take a good 
look at us, and poked his long neck forward, and 
began to walk around to get a side or back view of 
us. His motions and expressions were so droll, as 
I saw him across the bridge of my nose, that I 
burst (which I could not avoid) into a loud laugh. 
He screamed, and I fired through the group, a 
raking fire, and another cylinder as they were get- 
ting on the wing ; and of all the curious hunting 
or other scenes that I have seen on earth, that 
scene was the most curious. Those that were near 
were wheeling about in the air, like a cloud above 



2 ^4 Shooting Flamingos. 

us, and shadowing the earth around us ; and as the 
alarm was general, those rising more slowly in the 
extreme distance looked like a white fog streaming 
up from the ground. We stood still, and the whirl- 
ing multitudes in the air formed into lines like in- 
fantry, and each, with its leader, was moving around 
and over our heads, not knowing what the matter 
was, or where the danger was, or where to go. 

One of these lines came so near that I brought 
the leader down. He descended with outspread 
wings, and fell within ten feet of me, and down 
came his troop, faster than I could count them, all in 
a mass, one upon the other, not knowing what was 
the trouble, stretching down their long legs and 
flapping their scarlet wings actually against me and 
m my face ! At the struggling of their dying leader, 
they all saw there was some mistake, took the 
alarm, ana were off" in confusion. Still, brigade 
after brigade came sailing around us, and I soon 
discharged ail my cylinders, bringing down one at 
each fire. 

From m } - two first raking shots, where in range 
they looked like a solid mass, seven or eight were 
lying dead, and others were hobbling off with broken 
wings ; and of all together we picked up thirteen. 
But, before picking up my birds, I had been obliged 
to pick up my negro Indian boy ; he had had no idea 
of my firing more than once, and my agitation and 
somewhat of confusion in turning to fire right and 



A Strange Scene. 285 

left,, and withed up in a bunch of bushes filled with 
smoke, the sharp breech of my rifle had struck him 
on the temple,, and knocked him helpless down, with- 
out my knowing it. He had fallen backwards, en- 
tangled in his bushes, and was lying on his back, 
imploring me to be merciful. He thought I had 
shot him,, and that I was going to shoot him again. 

I got him up, and soon explained, by signs, the 
accident, and then we observed our companions 
without their horses, coming at full gallop, to join 
us. We were a nasty group, up to our waistbands 
in the mud and slime, on which the birds walked 
with scarcely wet feet. 

The scene now before us was strange in the 
extreme, a landscape, a perspective of nests, with 
the heads of young birds standing out, as far as the 
eye could discern, and nothing else. Xests with 
eggs, and nests with young ; the very young heads 
up and gazing, the older young, but without wings, 
pitched out of their nests, and sprawling, and try- 
ing to fly or to hide themselves on the ground. We 
replaced the little chicks in their nests as well as 
we could about us, and left them. 

Two pair of the handsomest wings I cut off with 
my own knife for little Til-tee, and the rest were 
taken by the others of the party. These wings, for 
military feathers and other uses, are objects of 
commerce, and always find a ready market in 
Buenos Ayres and Rio de Janeiro. 



286 The "Talking Laker 

Now, why should I lose space by telling how we 
got back ; how we spent the day amongst the birds, 
the worms and snakes that infest in myriads 
the shores of the " Grand Saline/'— how we recrossed 
the sandy plains, rode to the " talking (echoing) 
lake," and after shooting ducks and geese till we 
were tired, we returned to the happy little Auca 
village. 

Til-tee was the first to meet and to greet us, a 
half a mile from the village. I then gave her the 
beautiful red wings of the flamingos, and others of 
green and blue, of the wood-ducks I had shot at the 
" lake that talks." Yudolph knew the little maid, 
and he trembled with his love for her when she 
came up and patted him on his nose. She bounded 
with joy, and was in the village before us. 

The villagers were gathered around us, and what 
was the first that we heard ? Borroro had gone to 
Buenos Ayres, with two Puelche chiefs, who had 
arrived from the Colorado with information that a 
large war party of Patagons was assembling on the 
Rio Negro, for a war with Buenos Ayres ! Borroro 
had left word that I must not think of going to 
Patagonia yet, and that his son Gos-brok should 
accompany me to Buenos Ayres. 

I was very liberal now with the little store of 
presents I had laid in for the Patagons. Til-tee 
got many strings of beautiful beads, of ribbands, 
needles, &c; and her mother several vari-coloured 



Buenos Ay res. 287 

cotton shawls, for which she had a peculiar passion ; 
and with Gos-brok for our guide, we started for 
Buenos Ayres. 

And what in Buenos Ayres ? All was for war, 
"war, war, with the infernal Patagons!" Men were 
enlisting, and soldiers were drilling ; and I saw at 
once the impossibility of a tour through Patagonia 
under the present circumstances ; and why should I 
say more of my dreamed and fancied expedition 
which did not, and could not, take place ? 

Faithful Alzar, who had become very much 
attached to me, and I were obliged to take leave of 
each other, and shaking hands for the third and last 
time, he was saved, perhaps, from shedding any 
tears, by the " old minie," which I had promised 
him, and now placed in his hands. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 

Y " occupation (again) gone," I dwelt no 
more on Indians., but thought again of 
"Rocks" li How much more grand, 
how sublime ! Indians are, after all, 

poor things, and soon to become extinct but 

rocks ! rocks ! the eternal landmarks and boun- 
daries of the globe !" 

k4 Tierra del Fuego (the land of fire), the perpetual 
snow-covered mountains of the land of fire! how 
harmonious and how inviting. And the fire-vomit- 
ing Cotopaxi (Cotopaci), that coughs up a rock of 
sixty tons weight, and only throws it 15 miles! and 
600 miles the greatest extent to which its awful 
bellowings are heard ; and the snow and cloud 
capped Chimborazo! (Tchimboracho) ; these are 
said actually to exist, and the great Baron de Hum- 
boldt has even said so, and also that he saw them ; 
but how much more satisfactory to go and see and 
feel them." 

With such contemplations, could I stop in Buenos 




Straits of Magellan. 289 

Ayres ? I was going on board the " Gladiator" 
She was bound to Valparaiso, on the Pacific coast. 
From day to day the palisaded coast of Patagonia, 
like the cliffs of the Kentish coast in England, were 
tantalizing us as we passed them. And the ragged, 
and black and white, and smoking heaps and piles 
of lifted mountains and mountain-peaks of "Ma- 
gellan " and "Fmgo" were ahead of us, but as yet 
in imagination. Cartoons were ready, and colours 
and pencils, and two days of sleep, ahead, so as to 
be wide awake whilst passing them. 

We are in the Strait of Magellan — and those 
mountains, blue on our left and before us, and some- 
over them and higher, glistening like the tin roofs 
of Montreal — the sun's rays are on them, and they 
are covered with snow ! 

" Captain, you know all about these ?" 
" Well, I ought to know something of them ; I 
have seen them from all sides." 

" And these black and frowning walls on our right, 
they look as if they had been broken off with 
mighty sledge-hammers ; and these two, right 
straight ahead — how immense and how grand ! 
They look as if they had been shoved up from the 
bottom of the ocean on the -back of some terrible 
monster ! Surely the Andes has been broken in 
two here ! what an awful struggle there has been ! 
The Indians tell us that the Andes was once a 
great serpent — that its tail was here, and these huge 

U 



290 Strait of Magellan. 

rocks were its rattles ! how sublime ! what a rattle- 
snake ! I have crossed over the back of this reptile, 
and also of its mate, in North America, the Rocky 
Mountains, in their largest parts." 

"Ithinkyou are fond of rocks and mountains, sir?" 

" Yes, captain, there is nothing else on the earth's 
surface so sublime, so grand, and so interesting for 
the study of man. I think of nothing else— but 
here— how is this ? you are anchoring in this cove 
— what for ? " 

" Why sir, the wind is dead ahead around that 
point yonder, and blowing fresh— we'll have to lie 
by a bit here. We are in ' Pecket Harbour ;' vessels 
are often wind-bound here, and take in water and 
provisions. There's a sutler here, and he's just 
come on board, and this is he, sir." 

"Ah ! where's your town, sir ?" 

" That's all, that you see yonder, sir, and a few 
houses around the point— there's nothing here but 
a few of us, and some poor devils, Indians, encamped 
around us " 

" What ! Indians ? Well, that's droll ; I thought 
I had finished with Indians. What Indians are 
they?" 

" Well, sir, there's a little encampment of Pata- 
gons, and a dozen or so of Fuegians." 

"The deuce take the rocks and mountains of 
snow ! they can be seen a hundred years hence as 
well as now. Captain, I am going ashore, and you 
must send the yawl with me after breakfast ; and 



Visit to a Patagon Village. 291 

let me have one of the cabin-boys to carry my 
portfolio." 

" They shall be at your service, sir." 
Ascending the little hill at the back of the village 
to reach the Indians' camp, and near it, with a mulatto 
boy carrying my portfolio, I met a large and very 
fine dog hobbling along towards me, and yelling in 
the most piteous manner, with an arrow driven into 
its side quite up to the feather, and two Indians 
were following it with guns, and evidently intending 
to shoot it. My first impression was that it was 
mad, and I was raising my rifle for self-defence, 
when I observed by its crouching position and the 
wagging of its tail as it was approaching me, that 
it was seeking a friend in me, and evidently was 
approaching me for protection. 

I answered its supplication by beckoning with 
my hand, and the poor creature understanding me, 
crept up and laid down at my feet ; but the link of 
sympathy was severed the next moment, by one of 
the Indians advancing and shooting the poor crea- 
ture through the head ! 

I had no interpreter, and of course no means of 
getting an explanation ; and taking it by the legs, 
the Indians dragged it into the camp. This was 
entering an Indian village for once in my life under 
an excited and rather hesitating feeling, but it 
would not do to turn back at this point, where the 
eyes of all were upon us. 



2 Q2 Camp of the Patagons. 

I was met, however, and luckily, in this dilemma, 
by an interpreter who was sent to speak with us. 

The first thing I asked, and the first thing ex- 
plained, was the object for which the poor dog had 
been shot ; it was required, by the singular custom 
of the country, to be placed in the grave with its 
master, whose body was then just being buried, and 
whose tent, at a little distance, containing all its 
furniture, clothing, &c, was then burning ! 

In the middle of the night before, the poor man 
had gone out from his tent to move the picket of 
his horse, when he was bitten in the leg by a rattle- 
snake that he had disturbed. The villagers were all 
up, with torches in their hands, and the reptile 
being found, was killed, and the man died in a few 
hours. 

I had sat down with this interpreter, who was a 
Portuguese half-caste, and also spoke Spanish toler- 
ably well. I told him I feared it would be an un- 
lucky time to visit their little camp, and he said, 
" No ; the occurrence which had just happened 
would present no difficulty whatever and he then 
conducted me to the chiefs tent, where I was 
politely received, and easily explained my views, — 
that I had come ashore from a vessel just arrived, 
and having learned that a party of Indians were 
there, I had come to make them a short visit, pro- 
bably for the day only. 

I told him that I had spent the best part of my life 
in visiting numerous tribes of red people like him- 



Camp of the Patagons. 293 

self, in various parts of the world, and, like a prac- 
tical and reasoning man, and a real gentleman, he 
evidently appreciated my motives in an instant, and 
began to ask me questions about the various races 
I had seen, faster even than I could answer them. 

This man, though a chief, was but the chief of a 
band, or perhaps, only of the little encampment 
over which he had control. His questions were 
rational and judicious, and after answering them 
awhile, I took the initiative by opening my port- 
folio of portraits, which seemed to answer a thou- 
sand questions, and evidently to suggest as many 
more. 

I explained to him that I had visited more than 
one million of red people in their various villages ; 
and on a small map of North America, I pointed 
out, so that he clearly understood their relative 
positions and distances from where we were then 
sitting. He expressed no astonishment whatever 
in his looks or actions, nor made ejaculations, but 
calmly told me there was much more for poor 
Indians to learn in this world than he ever before 
had thought of. 

By this time his tent was becoming too small for 
the crowd that was getting into it, and it became 
necessary for my mulajtto boy to hold up each por- 
trait in turn so that all could see them, whilst I, 
with the aid of the interpreter, descanted on them. 

These people never flatten the head, nor cut and 
maim the flesh in any way for the purpose of orna- 



294 Camp of the Patagons. 

mentation, and when I showed them the Flatheads, 
and explained the process of flattening the nead, 
and the Botocudos and Nayas portraits, with blocks 
of wood in their lips, a tremendous laugh was 
raised, and the chief very coolly remarked that 
"they were very great fools." 

For want of space I was now obliged to take up 
a position outside of the chief's tent, where all 
comers could see and hear ; and amongst others 
that appeared, there soon came from two grass- 
covered wigwams, at a little distance, several Fue- 
gians, and amongst them an eccentric character 
whom the interpreter told me was a medicine-man 
(a sorcerer), his body and limbs curiously painted, 
and his head and neck as white as pipe-clay could 
make them, and surmounted by two white quills of 
the largest dimensions. This strange looking being, 
either from jealousy of my works (which of course 
were considered great medicine), or from disbelief in 
my wonderful relations, took it in his head to raise 
objections to the " spectacle" that was going on. 
The chief, however, telling him that I would most 
likely have his frightful face put in my book, caused 
him to haul gradually off, whilst the crowd were 
laughing at him. 

I felt at once amongst this little group as if I 
were amongst a group of Comanches of North 
America. Not only are they mounted, equipped, 
and armed, like the Comanches, with bows and 
arrows, and long lances, and like them in their 



Patagons. 295 

modes of dress and ornament, but strikingly re- 
semble them in physiognomy and physiological 
traits. 

The men chiefly divide their long hair in two 
parts, separated on the forehead and thrown on to 
the shoulders and back by a silver-plated band or 
hoop, which is crowded down from the top of the 
head and over the hair, near to the eyebrows, hold- 
ing the hair in its place, clear from the face and 
back of the ears. Their faces are always (in full 
dress) painted red from the eyebrows to the mouth, 
including the ears, and the other parts of the face 
painted in a variety of shapes and bright colours, 
and they wear no head-dresses, and very seldom or- 
nament the head even with a single quill or feather. 

Their dress at this season — the middle of January, 
and therefore midsummer — is very slight. The men 
wear a breech-cloth around the waist, and the 
women a sort of apron of cotton-cloth or of bark, 
extending down to the knee, and mocasins beauti- 
fully embroidered, made of the skins of deer or 
goats; and, in the colder season, both men and 
women dress the leg with skins and wrap them- 
selves in robes made of the skins of guanacos, and 
curiously painted ; and their tents, which are small 
and light for the convenience of transportation, are 
made of the skins of the same animal, or of wild 
cattle and horses, with which the vast plains of their 
country abound. 



296 Small-Pox. 

Observing on the chiefs face the marks of small- 
pox, I questioned him about it, and he informed me 
that when he was a boy he was near dying with 
that disease, and he told me that, about 1812 or 
1 81 5, as near as I could ascertain, that awful disease 
was communicated to his people by some white 
people on the coast, who were selling rum and 
whiskey and other things to the Indians, and that 
more than one half of the great and powerful tribe 
of Patagons were destroyed by it. 

"We are poor," said he; " we want many things 
that the white people make — their cloths, their 
knives, their guns, and many other things— and Ave 
come here to buy them, and many of my people, 
who are foolish, will buy whiskey, and it makes 
them mad, when they will kill even their own 
mothers and their little children. We do all we 
can to prevent this, but still it is not stopped, and 
we are afraid of getting the awful disease again." 

One can easily see that I had enough to do this 
day without painting, and we returned on board 
full of fatigue and hunger, the chief having agreed 
to sit for his portrait the next day, if the vessel 
would wait for me. 

My conditional appointment with the chief being 
explained to the captain, and the portfolio opened 
to him, which he had not before seen, he agreed to 
wait another day, whatever the wind might be, for 
the satisfaction of gratifying me, and the pleasure 
he would have ashore with me. 



Fuegians. 297 

Captain Ford proved to be a real "bon homme" 
and, becoming as much taken up with me as the 
Indians were, went ashore with me the next morn- 
ing, on condition that he could have the pictures to 
lecture- on amongst the women and children, who 
had not yet seen them, whilst I was sketching my 
portraits, And when night came, and we were safe 
on board again and our craving stomachs pacified, 
he said to me that this had been to him the happiest 
day of his life that he ever had spent. 

My sketch of this rational and intelligent chief 
was followed by that of his wife and a warrior ; and 
then hasty sketches were made at the little and 
more humble demure of the Fuegians, at which the 
famous doctor, with his white head, was minus, he 
having withdrawn himself, probably with absolute 
disgust. 

The reader will easily imagine with what excite- 
ment, and with what eclat, and with what security 
and success, from this point I could have penetrated 
and passed through the centre of Patagonia, with 
the introduction of this little returning colony, had 
there been no rumours of war, and I had had my 
faithful Csesar, or even Alzar, with me ; but here I 
stood alone, and the barren coast could have fur- 
nished me no reliable companions. But it may 
happen yet that I shall be able to see the way and a 
proper time to pass through the midst of these in- 
teresting people; and then if it happens I shall be 



2 9§ Patagons. 

able to say more of them and their customs than I 
now can. 

Yet, from this little caravan, who had travelled 
several hundred miles to visit the coast, I learned 
many things of interest, and was enabled t* learn 
them in a little time. As to the fabulous accounts 
of "giants," men " eight and ten feet high," as re- 
lated by some early writers, I learned from this 
chief that there actually existed no such monstrous 
persons in the tribe, though there were some parts 
of the country where the men were very tall, con- 
siderably taller than himself. 

From this man I learned that the government of 
the Patagons resembled very closely that of most 
of the North American tribes— a head chief, and a 
council of subordinate chiefs, or chiefs of bands, 
forming the government of the tribe. He told me 
they could muster 8000 warriors, well mounted and 
well armed, and were abundantly able to defend 
themselves and their country from assaults of any 
enemy they had. 

That the tribe of Puelches on the north of them, 
between them and Buenos Ayres, were their rela- 
tions, and that through them they traded horses 
and hides for guns and ammunition, to the Buenos 
Ayreans, and in that way could equip all the war- 
riors of the tribe. They catch their horses wild on 
the prairies, and train and ride them, in the same 
way, and as well, as the Comanches do. 



Patagons and Fuegians. 299 

Their saddles and stirrups are made with great 
skill, and the stirrups for women (who ride astride, 
and as boldly as the men) are suspended by a broad 
and ornamented strap crossing the horse's neck; 
and for both men and women these stirrups, which 
are made of wood, and curiously carved, admit but 
the two largest toes to enter, to guard against fatal 
accidents which too often befal horsemen in the 
civilized world. 

Their dead are always buried in a sitting pos- 
ture, and with them their pipes and their weapons, 
and by the side of them their dogs and their horses ; 
and everything else that they possess is burned 
with their wigwam. 

The Fuegians are a tribe of some five or six 
thousand, inhabiting both sides of the Strait of 
Magellan ; living entirely on fish and wildfowl, and 
their lives are spent chiefly in their canoes, made 
from bark of trees, sewed together and glued, some- 
what like the canoes of the Ojibbeways of North 
America. In the summer season they go chiefly 
naked, both men and women, wearing only a flap 
covering the hips ; and in the winter, cover their 
bodies with robes made of the skins of the sea- 
wolf, which they kill with their spears and arrows. 

Their manufacture of flint spear and arrow heads 
is not surpassed by even the Apachees, or Snakes, 
or any other of the North American tribes, and 
they are made in the same forms, and by the same 



3 00 Fuegians. 

process, which has been described. And their wig- 
wams, which are very small, are made by setting a 
number of slender poles in the ground in a circle 
and bending the tops in, forming a cone, which is 
covered with long grass, or with skins of the sea- 
wolf. 

These people are unquestionably a branch of the 
Patagon family, speaking a dialect of the Patagon 
language, and living in harmony and friendship 
with them ; and living by the side of and adjoining 
them, and still so entirely unlike, both in phy- 
siognomy and in symmetrical proportions, furnish 
one of the most striking and satisfactory proofs of 
the metamorphose of man, by men's different modes 
oi life. 

Wind-bound a third day, I went again ashore, 
and drew, through the interpreter, which he pro- 
nounced with distinct emphasis, the following brief 
vocabulary of Patagonian translations of English 
words, which may be interesting to the reader :— 



1 



this 
that 



on. 



English. Patagon. English. P ata < 

ya good getenc 
you mushma ; bad 

he da large 

they dushda small 

win hot borshenc 

miro cold curshenc 



sterone 
stsanic 
stsalenc 



Patagon Vocabulary. 301 



English. 


Patagon. 


English. 


Patagon. 


dry 


arenc 


girl 


cars en 


wet 


etshaksh 


father 


yanco 


high 


sebenick 


mother 


yan 


low 


tsamnick 


brother 


den 


sweet 


goosh 


sister 


denon 


bitter 


stark 


husband 


hausenk 


clean 


jet 


wife 


shay 


dirty 


startenk 






sick 


shoyu 


head 


eru 


much 


tsait 


hair 


hon 


little 


stalco 


nose 


or 


red 


gabenk 


eye 


otl 


yellow 


waitenk 


mouth 


consen 


blue 


caltenk 


tongue 


stal 


white 


orenk 


ear 


shan 


black 


polnk 


knee 


tepen 


before 


wieeker 


foot 


shawkenue 


behind 


aucenker 


arm 


hensh 


below 


anunk 






here 


nane 


horse 


caul 


there 


hemai 


mule 


molo 


yes 


hooi 


dog 


shamenoo 


no 


gom 


fire 


yaic 






water 


hamin 


man 


alen 


wind 


kurshun 


woman 


naac 


sea 


kono 


baby 


amel 


sky 


coche 


boy 


stalsen 


cloud 


pawin 



302 

English, 
gold 
silver 
iron 
stone 
knife 
pipe 
tobacco 
spoon 
gun 
pistol 
powder 

sun 
moon 



Patagon Vocabulary, 



Patagon. 
pothamic 
pesho 
akels 
yaten 
paiken 
anu 

coyu 
yalbok 

yalbok-chame 
yalbok-shepen 

senisensin 
senisenson 



English, 
star 
night 
morning 
noon 
evening 
before 
to-day 
to-morrow 
to-morrow 

morning 
yesterday 
now 
always 



Patagon, 
sterke 
stenon 
wiec 
catese 
sterker 
seuco 
ma 

nashgut 
j-hatyunk 

nashensh 

yomeno 

gelooni 



Numerals. 



one 


choche 


two 


wame 


three 


caash 


four 


cage 


five 


tsenon 


six 


winecash 


seven 


caoc 


eight 


winecage 


nine 


kamektsen 


ten 


casen 


eleven 


choche-caur 


twelve 


wame-caur 



Patagon Vocabulary. 



Numerals. 



thirteen 


caash-caur 


fourteen 


cage-caur 


fifteen 


tsenon-caur 


sixteen 


winecash-caur 


seventeen 


caoc-caur 


eighteen 


winecage-caur 


nineteen 


kamektsen-caur 


twenty 


wameno casen 


twenty-one 


wameno casen choche-caur 


thirty 


casheno casen 


forty 


cageno casen 


fifty 


tsenono casen 


sixty 


winecasheno casen 


seventy 


caocono casen 


eighty 


winecagono casen 


ninety 


kamektsenono casen 


hundred 


patak 


two hundred 


wame palak 


thousand 


warank 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE INDIANS, WHERE FROM ? 

l^^t|AVING in -this and the former volume 
' introduced my young readers in a cur- 




sory manner to most of the principal 
tribes of the American Indians and their 
leading customs and modes of life, from the highest 
latitude in North America to the southernmost cape 
of South America, there yet remain to be made, 
within the original conception of this little work, 
some general remarks of interest, which are 
suggested by the queries naturally arising in the 
minds of the readers—" Who are the American In- 
dians?— fr out whence did they come ? — and. where cive 
they going?" 

These questions involve matter of very great im- 
portance to ethnology and to human education 
generally, and deserve a much greater space than 
can be allotted to them in this little book, in which 
all that is to be yet said must necessarily be concise. 

If we should look to the Indians themselves to 
answer the above questions, they would decide for 



American Indians, where from? 305 

us very briefly (having no history, sacred or pro- 
fane) " that they are the favourite children of the 
Great Spirit, created on the grounds on which they 
live," and that they are "going to the setting sun." 

The first of these beliefs is the unexceptional in- 
stinct of all the American tribes ; and the second, 
no doubt the poetical figure raised by the continual 
and never-ending encroachments of civilization 
upon them, forcing them from their hunting- 
grounds, and consequently driving them to the west, 
towards the " setting sun." 

Some of their various theories of their creation 
will be given, but science demands some better so- 
lution of questions so important. And if with that 
view the suggestions hereafter to be made should 
fail to settle those important facts, they will, like 
other theories that have been abundantly advanced, 
tend towards an ultimate solution of questions which 
science as yet is a great way from having deter- 
mined. 

Various theories have been advanced, and by very 
eminent men, as to the origin of the American In- 
dians, who were found, on the first discovery of the 
American continent, to be inhabiting every part ot 
it from pole to pole, and every island contiguous to 
it in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 

These facts put the question at once— " From 
whence did these people come ? and by what means 
and by what route did they come ? " These questions 

X 



306 The Indians, where from t 

are based upon an established presumption of neces- 
sity (which may yet be questioned), and ethnolo- 
gists and geographers have indicated Bherings 
Strait and other points as the probable routes by 
which they arrived from the " Old World." All 
have suggested routes and modes by which it was 
possible they could have come, and their theories 
there all stand on the slender ground that not one 
of them has produced a particle of proof that they 
did come, or that it was necessary that they should 
have come. 

When the science of human ethnology, which has 
been for some thousands of years travelling to the 
west with the advance of civilization, gets quite 
around the globe it will probably be seen whether 
there has not been some error at its starting-point 
— error as its basis, and, consequently, error heaped 
upon error as it has advanced. Whether erroneous 
dogmas, travelling with the wave of civilization, 
have not been too much the established rule by 
which all things ethnological in the New World 
should be measured ; and whether true ethnological 
knowledge of a people is best drawn from an inde- 
pendent study of those people and their habits, or 
from the application of an ethnological education 
drawn from books, made from books, with all the 
dogmatical rules that have been made for, and 
applied to, other peoples ? 

Is it necessary that on the last quarter of the 



The Indians, where from? 307 

globe a whole continent of human beings, indepen- 
dent, and happy in their peculiar modes of life, and 
never heard of or thought of until the fourteenth 
century, should be traced when discovered, back to 
the opposite side of the globe, because civilization 
happened to come from there ? What an ill con- 
ceit of civilized man to believe that because his an- 
cestors came from the east, all mankind on a new 
continent, a new world, must have come from there 
also! x\nd what a pity for science, and what a 
blunder in science, if such a fact be established 
before it is proved ; and what proof of it is there ? 
I have said, " None whatever." 

Ethnologists and other savants find amongst the 
American Indians some resemblances in physiolo- 
gical traits to some foreign races. How strange if 
there were not such ! Once in a while, a word in 
their language resembles a word in the Hebrew or 
other eastern language. How extraordinary if in 
any two languages there were not some words bear- 
ing; a resemblance to each other ! And then these 
savants say, " Not only in the resemblance of lan- 
guage, but in the structure of language." But how 
trivial is all such evidence as this, when all lan- 
guages are constructed to suit the organs pronounc- 
ing- them, and which are the same in all the human 
race, leaving us to wonder that the resemblance in 
the construction of languages is not greater than 
it is, 



308 The Indians, where from ? 

One distinguished ethnologist of England recites 
in his work on Ethnology one word of only two 
syllables, found in use amongst an American tribe 
on the Pacific coast, the same as spoken by a tribe 
on the opposite coast of Siberia, as an evidence that 
the American tribe came from that coast, probably 
by the way of Bhering's Strait ! 

What a monstrous way to prove a theory, and how 
bad the theory that grasps at such proofs ! If such 
an isolated word was worth a notice, why not better 
suppose that probably some poor fisherman of 
Siberia had been driven in his canoe to the Colum- 
bia coast, and that the American Indians who 
picked him up adopted from him a dying word to 
recollect him by ? 

As has been said, that I went to Petropotrovski, 
to the Alaeutian Islands, and to Kamskatka, 
on the coast of Siberia. I found many words of 
Siberian languages spoken on the American side of 
the Strait of Bhering, and as many, or more, on 
the Siberian side, of the American languages. 
What did this prove ? Nothing — except that there 
had been a mutual crossing of Bhering's Strait in 
their canoes or on the ice (both of which at certain 
seasons are feasible), and that there had been, to a 
certain extent, a mutual adoption of words in their 
languages. It proved that those opposite people 
sometimes cross the strait, while the total absence 
of resemblance in physiological traits as positively 



The Indians, where from f 309 

disprove the fact of emigration (or peopling a con- 
tinent) from one side or the other. 

The ethnologist enters the wildest tribes on the 
United States frontier, and to his astonishment 
finds the Indians there using occasionally French 
and English words, and now and then meets a half 
white Indian, with a French face and a French 
beard. This is no evidence that these tribes are 
Frenchmen or Englishmen, but proves only that 
Frenchmen and Englishmen have been there a 
hundred years before him. 

He finds these people using bows and arrows, 
the same precisely as were anciently used by the 
ancient Saxon race, the flint arrow and spear heads 
precisely the same as those of the ancient Britons, 
and he is astounded ! but why astonished ? What 
do these prove ? Not that the American Indians 
emigrated from the British Isle, or that the ancient 
Britons came across the Atlantic in their canoes 
from America, but it helps to prove the truth of 
the old adage, that " necessity is the mother of in- 
vention," that the nations of all the earth, without 
the use of iron, having necessity for food and means 
of getting it, and implements for war and defence, 
have had alike the ingenuity to take the sharp edge 
of broken flints for knives and arrow-points, and by 
the aid of their inventive powers, granted them 
alike by the Great Spirit, they have everywhere 
improved them much in the same shape, not from 



3io The Indians, zvhere from? 

each other, but led to the same results and same 
forms by the peculiar fracture of the stone, in all 
countries the same, and the similar objects for 
which their knives and arrow-heads were formed. 

The flint arrow, therefore, and the bow to throw 
it, have been not necessarily the gift of one nation 
■to another, but the native invention of even 7 people. 
They certainly came not from Adam. Adam was 
a gardener, and his sons farmers and tenders of 
flocks. These things, then, were purely of human 
invention, and growing out of necessity ; and if one 
race invented them, another race, from the same 
necessity, could as well do it. 

Savants who have grown up ethnologists in their 
fathers' libraries of books, also tell us that some 
portions of the splendid ruins at Uxmal and Copan, 
as well as ancient sculptures found in Mexico, and 
the relics found on the Ohio and Muskingum are of 
Egyptian origin, because they resemble Egyptian 
monuments. 

How weak is such evidence, that merely because 
these ruins and these sculptures happen to resemble 
some edifices or some sculptures of the Egyptians, 
that they are of Egyptian origin. They admit 
that they were built by savage tribes, for they bear 
no Egyptian inscriptions or hieroglyphics, but the 
inscriptions and hieroglyphics of savage races who 
must have brought their art of building and 
sculpture from Egypt ! 



The Indians, where from ? 311 

How astonishing that such stupendous ruins are 
actually there, and were built there,, and left there, 
without a living soul to tell their history, or who 
built them, and covered with inscriptions and 
hieroglyphics, no doubt telling their own history if 
they could be read, but no corresponding living 
language in the old world or the new, to prove that 
their origin was Asiatic or Egyptian. 

Egyptian sculpture and Egyptian architecture 
were not taught the Egyptians ; they were the in- 
ventions, and in their grandeur and magnificence 
were but the progress of, native art ; and so the 
ruined temples and palaces of Palenque and UxmaL 
Talents for art and design are inherent in all 
mankind, and as wealth and luxury and civilization 
increase in all countries, so will sculpture and 
architecture advance in grandeur and in beauty of 
design ; and these advancements, like those in 
Indian weapons, suggested by the demands of 
elegance and comfort in buildings, or of beauty 
and nature in sculpture, with nature everywhere 
the same for its models, will necessarily, in all 
countries, arrive, sooner or later, at more or less 
resemblance. 

A sculptured statue, found amongst the antiquities 
of Mexico or Yucatan, if it resembles ever so 
closely an Egyptian statue, it is no evidence what- 
ever that it was transported from Egypt to America, 
or that the sculptor of it came from that country, 



312 The Indians, where from f 

bringing his tools and his models with him ; it only 
proves that in both countries men have alike an 
inherent talent for art, and that working from 
similar models, and in similar material, they have 
arrived at equal perfection, both copying closely 
their model, and their works, consequently and 
necessarily, resembling one another. 

An ethnologist finds amongst the American 
Indians a wooden spoon, precisely the same in pro- 
portions and shape as the wooden spoons brought 
from the Kalmuk Tartars, in Asia. This, though 
only evidence for a bad theory, proves just as much 
as resemblance in statuary, or of facades, door- 
ways, &c. in ancient palaces ; it proves that man's 
ingenuity and necessities in both countries led him 
to build facades and doorways, and to adapt the 
length and shape of his spoon to suit the motions 
of his arm, and the bowl of it to fit his mouth. 

The ancient Egyptians, before the construction 
of their stupendous monuments, and their grand 
groups in sculpture, which now stand to astonish 
the world, lived in tents like the Aztec Indians 
previous to their building the cities of Palenque, 
Copan, and Uxmal. And the two native races, 
developing the talent with which nature had en- 
dowed them for those grand purposes, probably 
constructed those vast edifices on the two con- 
tinents about the same time. 

In the two countries the wonder is, not that 



The Indians, where from? 313 

there should be a resemblance in their monuments, 
but that the people who built them, and arose by 
their own talents to such grandeur in art, and such 
luxury, should have fallen short of all history which 
should have recorded their greatness. 

To the theory so often and so strongly advanced 
of an Egyptian or Asiatic origin of the American 
Indians, there are yet other and stronger objections 
to be produced before the subject is disposed of. 

The theory of such a mode of peopling a whole 
continent involves, as will be seen, difficulties and 
objections (considering the time at which such 
supposed emigrations took place), in effect equal 
to impossibility itself. I say impossibility, because 
the Aztec ruins in Yucatan and Guatemala, which 
speak a language, which no one can deny, are as 
old as the most ancient monuments of Egypt, and 
are unquestionably the results of the growth of a 
civilization from savage native tribes, which growth 
itself must have required some thousands of years. 

The evidence that those monuments were not 
the works of Egyptian architects, is, that, though 
in some respects they bear a resemblance, not an 
Egyptian inscription or hieroglyphic mark is to be 
found amongst them, and also that if the Egyptians, 
in so advanced a state of civilization and art, emi- 
grated to the continent of America, and built such 

o ... 

stupendous palaces and other edifices, it is quite 
impossible, though the people have perished, that 



314 The Indians, where front? 

history should have been, until the date of Colum- 
bus, in ignorance of the American continent. 

From the above dates and evidences of dates,, we 
are bound to infer that the American native races 
are as ancient as any of the races of the ''old world/' 
whose antiquity is known by their monuments. 

Then let us see, if the builders of those monu- 
ments were Egyptians or Asiatics, what objects 
the\- had in coming to America— how they found 
the way there — and how they got there (at least 
6000 years ago, if at all), when civilization, with 
the art of navigation, and stimulated by commerce, 
by science, and the thirst for gold, never reached 
there until within the last 400 years. 

There is nothing in history, sacred or profane, to 
prove a peopling of one continent from the other, 
and probably for ever, as at the present time, pre- 
sumption will be the only ground on which such a 
theory will stand ; and if the fact could be proved 
to have transpired, there is nothing yet to show that 
it might not as well have been from west to east, as 
from east to west. 

The most enthusiastic theorists on this subject 
have never yet entertained the idea of a savage 
emigration across the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean, 
but look to Bhering's Strait, where, by possibility, 
at certain seasons of the year (as has been said), 
they can cross from continent to continent on the 
ice, or in canoes, but what motive for doing that, 



The Indians, where f rom ? 315 

in the state in which savage society in the frozen 
regions of Kamskatka, 6000 years ago, when at 
the present time, with all their modern improve- 
ments in boat building, in weapons, and with some 
ideas of commerce to stimulate them, no Indian, 
on either coast, ventures across, except under the 
advice and escort of civilized men who accompany 
them. 

Savages, of all the human family, are the least 
disposed to emigrate, — like animals, their instinct is 
against it ; driven from their homes, like animals, 
they will return to them, and without the stimulants 
of science, of commerce, or of gold, like animals, 
they are contented to remain in them. 

If the barren and frozen coast of Siberia had 
been overstocked with a surplus population, and 
the American coast opposite, a luxuriant garden, 
instead of a coast equally barren and desolate, such 
an emigration might have been a possible thing for 
Asiatics, and in the space of 6000 years they might 
possibly have increased and spread over North 
America, and perhaps through Central and South 
America, to Terra del Fuego, but if so, where are 
they ? 

In the whole extent of the whole American con- 
tinent, from Bhering's Strait to Terra del Fuego, 
there is not to be seen, amongst the savage tribes, 
a Mongol, a Kalmuk, or a Siberian Tartar, nor a 
word of their language to be heard, Languages, to 



316 The Indians, where from? 

be sure, may be lost or changed, but physiological 
traits of people are never lost whilst the race 
exists. 

Some travellers through South America, as if to 
aid the theory of Asiatic emigration, have repre- 
sented the tribes of the Upper Amazon with 
"bridled" eyes, like the Chinese, and even cari- 
catured the Chinese obliquity, and put these more 
than Chinese peculiarities forward as " types." But 
I have seen most of the tribes on the Amazon and 
its affluents, and though the natives in those regions 
are generally a low degree of American aborigines, 
they exhibit nothing of the Mongol general cha- 
racter of face, nor Mongol obliquity of eye, other 
than the occasional muscular approach to it pro- 
duced by their peculiar habits of life, living mostly, 
in their fisherman's lives, in their canoes ; their eyes 
affected by the refraction of the vertical rays of the 
sun on water, on which they are looking ; and on 
land, walking with naked feet, requiring their eyes 
to be constantly on the ground before their steps. 

The effect thus produced in the expression of 
their eyes is very striking, but is neither Mongolic 
nor a "type," but aberration from type, produced by 
the external causes above named. 

I have said above that if an Asiatic population 
had crossed at Bhering's Strait, they might in time 
have advanced through North and South and Cen- 
tral America, and have stocked the whole conti- 



The Indians, where from ? 317 

nent ; and this has been claimed by the advocates 
of Asiatic immigration. This is a possibility, and 
therefore, they say, is probable; but here possibility 
stops, and certainly proof with it. 

The Sandwich Islands, with a population of 
500,000, are more than two thousand miles from 
the coast of South America. How did the popula- 
tion of those islands get there ? Certainly not in 
canoes over ocean waves of two thousand miles. 
But I am told, " The Sandwich islanders are Poly- 
nesians." Not a bit of it ; they are 2000 miles 
north of the Polynesian group, with the same im- 
possibility of canoe navigation, and are as different 
in physiological traits of character and language 
from the Polynesian as they are different from the 
American races. 

However voluminous and learned the discussions 
may be on the mysterious subject of the origin of 
races, they must all come to the conclusion at last 
that, even if Asiatic, or Egyptian, or Polynesian 
populations found their way to the American con- 
tinent, at whatever date, they found, and inter- 
mingled with, an aboriginal American race as an- 
cient as, or more ancient than, the races they 
descended from. 

Some have contended that the American Indians 
are Jews, and that the "ten lost tribes of Israel," 
got to the American coast, and gave a population 
to the continent. How chimerical is this. At the 



3 1 8 The > Indians, where from f 

date of the disappearance of the " ten tribes;" the 
ruined cities of Yucatan and Guatemala were in 
full splendour ; and with no advantages of naviga- 
tion, the ten tribes would have had to wander 
through the barbarous and savage tribes of Chinese, 
Kalmuk, Mongol, and Siberian Tartary to the 
snowy and icy regions of Kamskatka and Bhering's 
Strait, a distance of more than 10,000 miles : and 
for what ? for a new continent they never had heard 
of, for, if any one had ever reached it, certainly no 
one had ever gone back. 

This interesting but unimportant question of, 
"Where the American Indians came from," has been 
elaborately and ingeniously discussed by able writers, 
and still will probably continue to be discussed for 
centuries to come, without being further understood 
than at the present time; and enough has been 
said of it in this little work to prepare the minds of 
its readers for my own opinions, which I am about 
to advance, as to that part of the question put in 
the beginning of this chapter, not " Where they 
came from" but " Who are the American Indians V y 




CHAPTER X, 

THE INDIANS, WHO ARE THEY ? 




HE reader has learned, by following me 
through these two little volumes, that I 
have, during fourteen years of research, 
not amongst books and libraries, but in 



the open air and the wilderness, studied the looks 
and character of the American native races in every 
latitude, from Bhering's Strait to Terra del Fuego ; 
and here he will learn that, from the immutable, 
national, physiological traits with which the Al- 
mighty stamps this and every other race, I believe 
the native tribes of the American continent are all 
integral parts of one great family, and that He who 
made man from dust created these people from the 
dust of the country in which they live, and to which 
dust their bodies are fast returning, 

I can find nothing in history, sacred or profane, 
against this ; and from their colour and physiologi- 
cal traits, which are different from all other races 
on the earth, as well as from reasons advanced 



320 The Indians, who are they? 

in the foregoing chapter, I am compelled to believe 
that, in His boundless and unerring wisdom, the 
Almighty, who " created the cattle of the fields, the 
fishes in the sea, and fowls of the air " of this vast 
and glowing continent " for man's use " (not that 
they should grow and decay for thousands of cen- 
turies, until man should accidentally reach them to 
enjoy them), placed these red children there, and 
said to them, in some way, " I am your Father, 
your Maker ; I give you these things ; go forth and 
enjoy them." And that in the undisputed enjoy- 
ment of this rich inheritance given them, of un- 
limited fields and forests abounding in game, and 
unbounded liberty for using it, they were, in Mexico, 
in Yucatan, and Perou, duly and successfully using" 
those faculties which God had given them, and in- 
tended for raising them gradually into civilization 
and splendour, when cataclysms sunk the splendid 
edifices and the people in one, and more than 
barbarous or savage cruelties of mercenary men, 
crushed their rising power, robbed them of their 
gold, and carried the sword and death amongst the 
others, and sent a drowning wave of discourage- 
ment through the remotest tribes of the continent. 

The American Indians are as distinct from all 
the other races of the earth as the other races of the 
earth are distinct from each other, and, both in 
North and South and Central America, exhibit but 
one great original family type, with only the local 



The Indians, who are they? 321 
changes which difference of climate and different 
modes of life have wrought upon it. 

I believe they were created on the ground on 
which they have been found, and that the date of 
their creation is the same as that of the human 
species on other parts of the globe. This belief 
is founded on the reasons advanced in the fore- 
going chapter, supported by the traditions of the 
Indians, which will be noticed, and a strong and 
unavoidable, intuitive disbelief that all the races ol 
man, of different colours, have descended from one 
pair of ancestors, involving, from necessity, the 
crime of incest after the holy institution of mar- 
riage, as the means of peopling the earth : and the 
inconceivable plan of the whole surface of the earth 
teeming with luxuries, "created for mans use,'/ 
vegetating and decaying for tens of thousands ot 
years, until wandering man, from one point, and 
from one pair, by accident, arrives there to use 
them. 

Some writers have advanced the belief that South 
America and the continent of Europe were an- 
ciently united, and that the American continent 
received its population in that way ; but as this is 
mere hypothesis, and probably will for ever remain 
so, it refers us for a last remaining remark-, to 
Bhering's Strait, by which route, if the American 
Indians are the descendants of "Adam" and " Eve, 
at the rate that an infant savage population would 

Y 



322 The Indians, who are they? 

spread over an uninhabited and desolate country, 
several thousand years would have been required 
to populate and move through the vast regions of 
Kalmuk Tartary and Siberia to Bhering's Strait, a 
distance of more than 10,000 miles; and from 
Bhering's Strait to Central and South America, and 
Terra del Fuego, 10,000 miles more, and an equal 
time required— one thousand years at least for a 
civilization to arise sufficient to have built the 
splendid monuments of Yucatan, and the vast space 
of time that has transpired since those monuments 
were depopulated ; in all, a space of time far tran- 
scending that allowed by sacred history, or even by 
geology, for man's appearance on the earth ! 

The American Indians know nothing of this, yet 
their traditions and monuments prove beyond a 
doubt their great antiquity; for, of 120 different 
tribes which I have visited in North and South and 
Central America, every tribe has related to me, 
more or less distinctly, their traditions of the 
Deluge, in which one, or three, or eight persons 
were saved above the waters, on the top of a high 
mountain ; and also their peculiar and respective 
theories of the Creation. 

Some of these tribes, living at the base of the 
Rocky Mountains, and in the plains of Venezuela, 
and the Pampa del Sacramento in South America, 
make annual pilgrimages to the fancied summits 
where the antediluvian species were saved in canoes 



The Indians, who are they? 323 

or otherwise, and, under the mysterious regulations 
of their medicine (mystery) men, tender their prayers 
and sacrifices to the Great Spirit, to ensure their 
exemption from a similar catastrophe. 

Indian traditions are generally conflicting, and 
soon run into fable ; but how strong is the unani- 
mous tradition of the aboriginal races of a whole 
continent, of such an event ! how strong a corrobo- 
ration of the Mosaic account ; and what an unan- 
swerable proof that the American Indian is an 
antediluvian race ! and how just a claim does it 
lay, with the various modes and forms which these 
poor people practise in celebrating that event, to 
the inquiries and sympathies of the philanthropic 
and Christian, as well as to the scientific, world ! 

Some of those writers who have endeavoured to 
trace the American Indians to an Asiatic or 
Egyptian origin, have advanced these traditions as 
evidence in support of their theories, which are as 
yet but unconfirmed hypotheses ; and as there is 
not yet known to exist (as I have before said), either 
in the American languages, or in the Mexican or 
Aztec, or other monuments of these people, one 
single acceptable proof of such an immigration, 
these traditions are strictly American — indigenous, 
and not exotic, 

If it were shown that inspired history of the 
Deluge and of the Creation restricted those events 
to one continent alone, then it might be that the 



m 



324 The Indians, wlto are they ? 

American races came from the .eastern continent, 
bringing these traditions with them ; but until that 
is proved, the American traditions of the Deluge 
are no evidence whatever of an eastern origin. 

Though there is not a tribe in America but what 
have some theory of man's creation, there is not one 
amongst them all that bears the slightest resem- 
blance to the Mosaic account. How strange is this, 
if these people came from the country where in- 
spiration was prior to all history ! 

The Mandans believed they were created under 
the ground, and that a portion of their people re- 
side there yet. 1 

The Choctaws assert that 44 they were created 
crawfish, living alternately under the ground and 
above it, as they chose ; and coming out at their 
little holes in the earth to get the warmth of the 
sun one sunny day, a portion of the tribe was driven 
away and could not return ; they built the Choctaw 
village, and the remainder of the tribe are still 
living under the ground.'' 

The Sioux relate with great minuteness their 
traditions of the Creation. They say that the 



annually the subsiding of the Deluge, accompanied withtheir 
various modes of voluntary torture, recently published by 
Triibner. 60, Paternoster Row. B O-kee-Pa : a Religious 
Ceremony of the Mandans. 13 Coloured Illustrations. By 
George Catlin." 



The Indians, who are they? 325 

Indians were all made from the 4k ' Red Pipe Stone," 
which is exactly of their colour — that the Great 
Spirit, at a subsequent period, called all the tribes 
together at the Red Pipe Stone Quarry, and told 
them this : " that the red stone was their flesh, and 
that they must use it for their pipes only. 5 '' 

Other tribes were created under the water ; and 
at least one half of the tribes in America represent 
that man was first created under the ground, or in 
the rocky caverns of the mountains. Why this 
diversity of theories of the Creation, if these people 
brought their traditions of the Deluge from the land 
of inspiration ? 

How far these general traditions of a flood relate 
to an universal Deluge, or to local cataclysms (of 
which there have evidently been one or more, over 
portions of the American continent), or whether 
there HAS BEEN an universal Deluge, and at what 
period, it is difficult to determine. 

One thing, however, is certain— the Indian tradi- 
tions everywhere point distinctly at least to one 
such event, and amongst the Central and Southern 
tribes, they as distinctly point to two such catas- 
trophes, in which their race was chiefly destroyed ; 
and the rocks of their countries bear evidence yet 
more conclusive of the same calamities, which pro- 
bably swept off the populations in the plains, and, 
as their traditions say, left scattered remnants on the 
summits of the Andes and the Rocky Mountains. 



326 The Indians, who are they? 

Since that epoch (or those epochs), their descen- 
dants have wandered off into the fertile plains where 
climate and a greater abundance of game and fish 
have invited them, peopling in time the whole con- 
tinent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts, and 
the West India and other islands. 

These scattered people have arranged themselves 
into different tribes, with languages dialectic or 
idiomatic, but without exception bearing evident 
physiological traits of the ancient parent stock, with 
local and tribal differences produced by different 
habits of life, and varieties of climates, and differences 
of food on which they subsist. 

The Crows, of whom I have spoken in a former 
chapter, and also at greater length in the first 
volume of this work, still inhabiting a part of the 
Rocky Mountains in North America, with the Apa- 
chees and several other tribes in New Mexico, still 
exhibit in bold relief the original type, which is 
seen so well preserved in the stone monuments of 
Yucatan and ancient Mexico, and the same unmis- 
takable, though less conspicuous, is traceable through 
the alto-Peruvian tribes ; the Moxos, the Ckiquitos, 
the CochabambaSy and others yet to the south. 

The Crows are living Toltecs (or Aztecs), and 
history abounds in proof that the Toltecs in Mexico 
and the Aztecs in Yucatan and Guatemala came 
from the mountains in the north. 

The Aztecs emigrated farther to the south and 



The Indians, who are they? 327 

east than the Toltecs, and to a more fertile country, 
but lower in position, by which means, in the second 
cataclysm, their magnificent cities were submerged, 
and their populations exterminated, but their im- 
perishable monuments record the truth that such a 
race then and there existed, as well as the physio- 
logical traits of its present population prove that 
the Mexicans are remains of the Toltec race. 

The history, which establishes beyond a doubt 
the migration of the Toltecs and Aztecs from the 
mountains of the north-west into Mexico and Yuca- 
tan, is extremely vague as to time, and from the 
similarity of their monuments, it seems probable 
that they were portions of the same race, who have 
taken different names from the different periods of 
their emigrations, or from the positions to which 
they respectively went, the word Toltec (or Toh-tec) 
being still applied by some of the northern Mexi- 
cans to the people of the mountains (mountaineers), 
and the word Aztec (or Ah-tec), to the people of 
the low countries (lowlanders), and Ah-na-tec to 
the people beyond the lowlanders (the white people). 

Subsequent to the second cataclysm, which de- 
stroyed the Aztecs, and deluged their stupendous 
monuments, the Toltecs built the city of Mexico in 
a high and sterile region, from fear of a similar fate 
to that of their neighbours, the Aztecs. 

In the second cataclysm the summits of the 
mountains in the West Indies, then forming a part 



328 The Indians, who are they? 

of the main land of the continent, protected a por- 
tion of their inhabitants, who, from the fear of 
another calamity (and later from the cruelty of the 
Spanish invaders, since the discovery of America), 
have emigrated in vast numbers to the coast of 
Venezuela, Guiana, and Yucatan : such are the 
Caribbes ; and from the north and the west of Gua- 
temala and Mexico, the Maya and other tribes have 
migrated to the east, spreading over the promon- 
tory of Yucatan, Honduras, &c. 

Amongst all of these tribes, as well as amongst 
the present Mexicans and the numerous tribes to 
the north, even to the Kiowas and the Comanches, I 
have found distinct traditions of three successive 
cataclysms — two by water, and one by fire. And 
in the rocks and mountains, both in the West India 
Islands and on the Mexican coast, as well as in 
Yucatan and its ruins, I have found, from chemical 
and geological tests, undeniable evidences of the 
same catastrophes. 

Nothing is more certain than that the second 
cataclysm in those regions was produced by the 
volcanic actions underneath, causing a subsidence 
of a large tract of country, including the whole 
range of the greater and lesser Antilles, the pro- 
montory of Yucatan, the eastern and lower parts of 
Mexico and Honduras, and even extending to the 
coast of Venezuela. 

At a later period (perhaps some thousands of 



The Indians, who are they ? 329 

years) this subsided country, or a great proportion 
of it, has, from an opposite action of similar causes, 
risen to a sufficient extent towards its ancient ele- 
vation, to show, in the granite and volcanic tops of 
the Antilles which have reappeared above the ocean, 
the continuation of the Cordillera, and also to ex- 
pose to view the Aztec ruins of Guatemala and 
Yucatan ; leading us to the rational and unavoid- 
able conclusions that a people so far advanced in 
civilization and the arts as to build such populous 
and magnificent cities as Palenque, Uxmal, and 
Copan, were never confined to three cities, but that 
other cities of equal or greater extent were spread 
over the plains, which, in the days of the Aztecs, 
extended from the ruins of Yucatan to the base of 
the West India mountains, and which lost cities 
may now be said to be ruins under the sea. 

What is now the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of 
Mexico were, in the days of Uxmal and Palenque, 
vast and fertile plains, through which the Rio 
Grande del Norte and the Mississippi wended their 
long and serpentine ways, and, uniting their waters 
near the base of the mountains, debouched into the 
ocean between Cuba and the Bahama Islands, 

This vast space, in area much larger than the 
kingdoms of France and England together, teeming 
with luxuries the most inviting to man, with the 
richest soil and the most salubrious climate of the 
world, would- consequently have had its portion of 



33° The Indians, who are they ? 

the Aztec race, and probably the ruins of millions 
and millions are there, still embedded under the 
sea. 1 

The reader who does not travel may easily trace on 
his map the Cordillera range, through Grenada, and 
pointing out at Santa Martha, on the coast of Vene- 
zuela, and follow it through the lesser and greater 
Antilles ; and he who travels may see with the 
naked eye, on the northern face of the Silla, at 
Carraccas, the sublime vertical grooves cut when 
that mighty subsidence went down. 

From those points, the chain of the lesser Antilles, 
as now seen, is a succession of mountain peaks, 
some volcanic, and others not, continuing the course 
of the Cordillera ; and from chemical and geolo- 
gical tests, I have found that they have anciently 
occupied positions equally elevated as the highest 
parts of the Andes at the present day ! 

In my descent from the tribe of Crows in the 
northern ranges of the Rocky Mountains (as has 
been described), through the other Toltec tribes, to 
Mexico, in 1854, and gathering their traditions all 
pointing to the sunken countries, I was forcibly 
struck with the importance of these great changes, 
in their probable effects on the distribution of 
races. 

1 For the young readers of this book, who have long lives 
before them, these are but suggestions, pointing to proofs 
that they will sooner or later read on these interesting topics, 



The Indians, who are they? 331 

I contemplated tests by which to determine the 
extent of those subsidences, and the depths to 
which they had sunk ; and also., the partial eleva- 
tions to which they have again arisen; and 'with 
examinations I then made, partly establishing my 
theory, I visited the Baron de Humboldt, in Berlin, 
in 1855 (the same visit alluded to in page 204). And 
after having fully explained my theory to him, and 
the tests which I brought him, when I was about 
starting on a second voyage to the lesser Antilles, 
I received the following complimentary and approv- 
ing letter from him : — 

" To Geo. Catlin, Esq, 

" My Dear Sir, 

" I have read with profound interest the papers 
you left with me. I believe with you, that the 
Crows are Toltecs ; and I was instantly impressed 
with this belief when I first saw your portraits of 
Crow chiefs in London, some years since. But I 
am more struck with your mode of determining the 
sinking and rising transits of rocks, and the prob- 
able dates and extent of cataclysmic disasters, I 
believe your tests are reliable, and perfectly justify 
you for making the contemplated voyage to the lesser 
Antilles. The subject is one of vast importance to 
science, and if I were a younger man I would join 
you in the expedition at once ! 

" I believe your discoveries will throw a great 



332 The Indians, who are they f 

deal of light on the important subject of the effect 
of cataclysms on the distribution of races. 

" I return to you with this, the papers you left 
with me, and I enclose you a memorandum for your 
voyage, which may lead you to examinations that 
you might otherwise overlook. 

" Let nothing stop you — you are on a noble 
mission, and the Great Spirit will protect you. 
" Your sincere friend, 

"A. v. Humboldt. 

"Potsdam, Sept. 12th, 1855." 

Armed with this encouraging letter, and the in- 
valuable "memorandum" from that great philo- 
sopher, for my further guidance, I made my second 
visit to the West Indies, and carried my tests, and 
applied them to the summits of the Ando Vene- 
zuelan mountains on the coast of South America ; 
and with facts which I then gathered, I re-crossed 
the ocean, and was traversing the continent to lav 

* C* J 

the results of my researches before my noble friend, 
as he had desired,, when the news of his death met 
me, but in no way depreciated the important facts 
with which I was freighted. 1 



1 The last Few years of my wanderings have been more 
amongst rocks than amongst Indians j and a work which I 
am preparing, to be entitled " The Lifted and Subsided Rocks 
of America'' will carry this subject much further than space 
will allow in the compressed remarks of this little work. 



The Indians, who are they? 333 

The migration of the Toltecs and Aztecs; from 
the north, and the cataclysmic events so well 
proved by Indian traditions, and more positively 
established by the tests I have alluded to, account 
for the total extinction of a race so numerous, and 
so far advanced in civilization and arts, that they 
could not have fallen by the hands of native tribes ; 
nor is it possible to believe that the whole of such 
a race could have been destroyed by an epidemic 
disease. 

All traditions of the contiguous mountain tribes 
are against this, and point distinctly to a flood in 
which the tribes of the lower countries perished ; 
and the ocean sands and deposits covering the 
whole surface of Yucatan and its ruins, with other 
evidences equally strong, help to establish, beyond 
a doubt, the same calamity. 

The cataclysm by fire, forming a part of the 
traditional catastrophes of Central America, and 
equally well established, was less extensive and 
less disastrous in its effects, and probably took place 
at the same time ; and from the same commotions 
which caused the subsidence of earth, and conse- 
quently flood of water. And that such eruptions 
of flame have been of repeated occurrence, and 
that they accompany most earthquake commotions, 
there is abundance of evidence in their marks on 
the rocks in the crevices of the mountains of Central 
and South America. 



334 The Indians, who are they ? 

The great antiquity of the Aztec ruins is ques- 
tioned by some, who find amongst them painted 
frescoes, painted tablets and statues, and lintelled 
roofs, and Maya and Mexican inscriptions. 

The Maya Indians, who, it has already been said, 
migrated from the west, and took possession of 
those ruins after they arose from the sea, found 
convenient shelter within their walls, which they 
defaced, and to which they added inscriptions ; and 
centuries after (and for centuries previous to the 
reign of Montezuma), a succession of Mexican 
princes occupied the same ruins — lintelled and 
roofed the palaces— painted the frescoes and tablets 
and added Mexican inscriptions, until the ablest 
archaeologists are unable to expound them ; but 
the very sands which cover them and the whole 
country around them, not blown there by the wind, 
but deposited by the waves of the ocean, show that 
neither the Maya Indians nor the Mexicans had any- 
thing to do with their original construction. 




CHAPTER XL 

THE INDIANS, WHERE ARE THEY GOING? 

F the brief remarks advanced in the two 
preceding chapters leave the reader's 
mind in any doubt as to the origin of 
the American Indians, there need be 
no uncertainty in answering the second question, 
x H Where are these poor people going ?" It requires 
no archaeologist, no historian, nor antiquarian for 
this — "to the setting sun," knowing, from the irre- 
sistible wave of civilization, which has already en- 
gulfed more than one-half of the tribes on the con- 
tinent, that somewhere in the western horizon the 
last of their race will soon be extinguished. 

The first shocks to Indian civilization and ad- 
vancement, which have been related in the fore- 
going chapters, were the results of natural acci- 
dents, which none but God controls ; and if those 
awful events could have been avoided, Columbus 
would have discovered a continent in the west as 




336 The Indians, where are they going ? 

high in civilization, in agriculture and the arts, as 
the eastern continent was at that date. 

Staggering under this death-blow, the genius of 
civilization lay for centuries and centuries in embers, 
until it again began to blaze out in Mexico and Peru, 
when the inhuman onslaughts and revolting cruelties 
of civilized men, stimulated by the thirst for gold, 
set honesty, morality, religion, and Heaven itself at 
defiance, in extinguishing the last lights that were 
lifting these poor nations from savage darkness and 
ignorance. 

The last gleams of Indian civilization thus extin- 
guished by deceptions and cruelties, at the recital 
of which the hearts of honest men and philanthro- 
pists sicken, the poor Indians, from one end of 
the continent to the other, have stood aghast at 
white man's cruelty ; and, suspicious, have every- 
where resisted his proffered civilization and religion, 
and yet the dupes of only one inducement — his rum 
and whiskey. 

Crazed by and for these, from one side of the 
continent to the other, they have bartered away 
their game, their lands, and even their lives ; for 
wherever rum and whiskey have gone, the small-pox 
has also travelled, and in every tribe one half or 
more have fallen victims to its mortality. 

Columbus, perhaps, was the first white man who 
ever saw an American Indian, in October, 1492 ; 
landing on the island of San Salvador, one of the 



The Indians, where are they going 1 337 

Bahamas, "he discovered Indians running to the 
shore, naked, and gazing at the ships." 

In Hayti, where he met greater numbers, he says, 
in a letter to Louis de St. Angel, " True it is that 
after the Indians felt confidence, and lost their fears 
of us, they were so liberal with what they possessed, 
that it would not be believed by those who had not 
seen it. If anything was asked of them, they never 
said no, but gave it cheerfully, and showed as much 
anxiety as if they gave their very heart ; and if the 
things given were of great or little value, they were 
content with whatever was given in return." 

" Columbus was afterwards wrecked on the 
island of Hispaniola. The cacique (chief), Gua- 
can-a-gau, living within a league and a half of 
the wreck, shed tears of sympathy, and sent all his 
people in canoes to his aid ; and the cacique ren- 
dered all the aid he could in person, both on sea 
and on land, consoling Columbus by saying that 
everything he possessed should be at his disposal 
All the effects of the wrecked ship were deposited 
near the cacique's dwelling, and not the slightest 
article, though exposed to the whole population, 
was pilfered ! " 

And Columbus, in his letter to the King and 
Queen of Spain, says, " So tractable, so peaceable, 
are these people, that I swear to your majesties 
there is not in the world a better nation. They 
love their neighbours as themselves, and their dis- 

z 



338 The Indians, where^ are they going? 

course is even sweet and gentle, and accompanied 
with a smile ; and though it is true that they are 
naked, yet their manners are decorous and praise- 
worthy." 

Columbus, amongst these people, was loaded 
with presents the most costly that they possessed ; 
and as he says himself, "this generous cacique, and 
a variety of other chiefs, placed coronets of pure 
gold on his head." And what was the sequel? 
This " generous cacique," and all the " variety of 
other chiefs," and their people, who had not even 
bows and arrows to defend themselves with (so 
peaceable they were), were driven from their dwell- 
ings into the mountains, and their villages burnt 
to the ground. The Caribbes were more warlike, 
and, armed with bows and arrows, made a stronger 
resistance ; but they were at length defeated by 
one of the most disgraceful stratagems that ever 
appeared in the history of warfare. These Indians, 
who possessed large quantities of gold, got an idea 
that silver, first produced amongst them by the 
Spaniards, was of much greater value, exchanged 
gold at the rate of ten ounces for one. To turn this 
to the best account, a massive pair of steel mana- 
cles were highly polished for the purpose, to re- 
semble silver (and, of course, of an immense value) 
were represented to Ca-on-e-bo, the chief, at the 
head of the Indian army, as a magnificent pair 
of bracelets of silver, sent to him by the King of 



The Indians, where are they going? 339 

Spain. Dazzled by so brilliant a present and from 
the king, he submitted to mount a powerful steed 
and have them put on. They were locked to his 
wrists, and by a mailed troop of horse in readiness 
he was galloped through the Indian lines and to 
the coast, where he was put in additional irons, and 
sent a prisoner to Spain. And in the space of 
five years of deadly and the most cruel warfare, 
waged with guns and coats of mail and sabres 
against these harmless and inoffensive people, by 
the man whose honours were to be immortal, over 
200,000 of these poor people were slain on their 
own ground, and more than 5000 were made pri- 
soners and shipped to Spain, and sold as slaves, 
where they slew themselves, or perished from dis- 
eases of the country. 

Here began American history, and here was the 
beginning (not the end) of the Indians' second series 
of calamities. 

This cruel and disgraceful warfare was all for 
gold, but the shining god proved to be farther west, 
and another fleet and another army were on its 
track, and another monster at its head. Fernando 
Cortes was this man, this educated demon, with 
a fleet and an army of mounted and mailed soldiers 
under his command, and the gold and jewels and 
blood of Mexico his idols. 

History has well recorded the more than savage 
cruelties, and massacres, and robberies of this 



34-0 The Indians, where are they going? 

civilized expedition, in which the second growth of 
spontaneous civilization was crushed, and smothered, 
and strangled into a degraded and sickening amal- 
gamation of conquered and subjugated, with selfish 
and fiendish conquerors. 

An Indian (rich and beautiful) city was sacked 
and robbed of its gold — 100,000 of its inhabitants 
were slain — its king (Montezuma) was deceived, 
dethroned, and murdered — its palaces destroyed — 
its religion trodden under foot, and its sacred 
temples thrown down ! and yet the thirst for gold, 
for plunder, and for massacre was not satisfied — 
there was another sun of Indian civilization above 
the horizon, and another mine of gold — it was 
Peru. 

Pizarro (from the same civilized school) was the 
merciless wretch for this. Like Cortes in Mexico, 
with a fleet, and an army of mailed soldiers with 
fire-arms and sabres in hand, he cut and slaughtered 
his way through the defenceless ranks of the un- 
offending Peruvians, on their own ground, with the 
most disgraceful breach of proffered faith known to 
history, robbed the city of its gold — imprisoned 
and murdered its monarch, the inca, and with the 
blades of his swords, taught to 150,000 peaceable 
and civilized Indians, as Cortes had taught in 
Mexico, their first lesson of the "blessings" of 
European civilization. 

The " El Dorado" was yet an idea — still unsolved; 



The Indians, where are they going? 341 

the plundered heaps of gold were yet too small, and 
the river of Indian blood must again be flooded ! 
Civilization required another glorification, and De 
Soto was the ready cavalier for that. A knight 
Castilian was he, blood-snuffing, and mad for gold; 
and soon after the scenes of blood related, his little 
fleet anchored, and disembarked his cavalry legion 
on the sandy coast of Florida. His men were in 
coats of mail, and his horses also, which were of the 
noblest Castilian breed ; and his cannons were drawn 
by horses covered with polished steel, and helmets 
plated with gold ! 

In helmet of gold himself, and sword in hand, he 
mounted his milk-white steed, and facing the west, 
where he dreamed of native cities, and wagon-loads 
of gold to be drawn back by his splendid troupe of 
Castilian chargers, and entered the swamps and 
everglades of Florida ! Poor fool, that he could 
have known what was before him ! He penetrated 
the impassable and interminable swamps and la- 
goons, and dragged his heavy cannons through them. 
And after wading the swamps, and through the 
blood of the poor savages, the cruelty and butchery y 
of which has no parallel in the pages of history, 1 
he at last arrived on the bank of the Mississippi, in 
which his body found a grave, and his visioned cities 
and mines of gold were never reached. 



1 See Irving's " Life of De Soto." 



34 2 The Indians, wke7'e are they going f 

After such examples of white man's injustice and 
cruelties, such illustrations of " glorious civilization," 
the news of which, of course, spread like the waves 
of a rising flood, over and through every tribe, from 
ocean to ocean, both in South and North America, 
is it wonderful that the American Indians should 
be suspicious of white man and his fair promises, 
his civilization, his faith, and his proffered religion ? 
And is it not wonderful, under their traditions 
taught to their children, of such civilized barbarities 
and treacherous massacres, that these poor people 
should everywhere, in first interviews (as abundance 
of history informs us), receive white men with open 
arms, with hospitality and welcome, in their humble 
wigwams ? 

Reader, listen to a few of these, which are truths, 
and tell me if it is not a wonder. And after that 
I will name other civilized transactions ; and then 
I will ask you, who is the savage— which, the 

brute ? 

Columbus has already told us " that the caciques 
of Hispaniola embraced him in their arms, shed 
tears for his misfortunes, and placed upon his head 
coronets of gold." This is not wonderful, for it was 
natural; man has been everywhere made (not a 
brute, but) human, ready and disposed to meet his 
fellow-man in friendship and kindness, where there 
has been no cause given for a different reception. 

Subsequent to the shocking invasions and cruelties 



The Indians \ where are they going ? 343 

recited above, colonization in North America com- 
menced, and the beginning of this was the little 
colony of Puritans who sailed from England, and 
landed, with their wives and children, on the rock 
of Plymouth. " They were hungry and in distress, 
and the Indians received them with open arms, and 
fed them with maize and other food which they 
brought to them." 

This was not wonderful, but natural; and noble, 
because these intelligent and discriminating people 
contemplated in this little domestic group of hus- 
bands, wives, and children, the elements of fellowship 
and peace, instead of the signals of war and plunder. 

The entrance of this colony opened the door for 
others, and the stream of emigration that has con- 
tinued ever since, peopling the whole Atlantic coast, 
and constantly moving on towards the west, and 
displacing and moving the Indian populations by 
treaty stipulations, or by force. 

And we now come to what is strictly wonderful, 
and even astonishing — that, under all the invasions, 
the frauds, the deceptions and tricks, as well as force, 
that have been practised upon them, to push them 
from their lands, and towards " the setting sun," 
these poor and abused people have exercised so 
little cruelty as they have; — that rum, and whisky, 
and small-pox, of the white man's importation 
amongst them, have been submitted to ; and border 
warfare, until they are reduced, tribe after tribe, to 



344 The Indians, where are they going? 

mere remnants, and still pushed again and again 
to the west ; and that even there, and under these 
irritating circumstances, white men travel unpro- 
tected, their lives secure, and their property trans- 
ported with safety;— that "Lasalle and Father 
Hennepen," in 1678, with only thirty men, should 
have passed, in their voyages of discovery, through 
the whole of the great lakes, the Illinois and the 
Mississippi, during eight years of continual travels 
and explorations, amongst more than twenty tribes 
as yet ignorant of civilization; and Father Hennepen 
(as he relates), with only two men, ascending, 
amongst the numerous tribes (the first explorer 
there), to the Falls of St. Anthony ; and under all 
the exposure and trying vicissitudes of those eight 
years, as they say, they were uniformly treated with 
hospitality and kindness by the Indians ;— that 
" Lewi s and Clarke," with a small detachment of 
men, in 1805, should have ascended the whole length 
of the Missouri River, crossed the Rocky Mountains, 
and reached the Pacific Ocean, and returned, a 
distance of more than 8000 miles, in which they 
paid the first visits of white men to more than thirty 
of the wildest and most warlike tribes on the con- 
tinent, without having to wield a weapon in self- 
defence ! " And," (as I had it from General Clarke's 
lips, in his old age), " we visited more than 200,000 
of those poor people, and they everywhere treated 
us with hospitality and kindness." And that hun- 



The Indians, where are they going? 345 

dreds of other travellers, and amongst them, myself, 
whose lives and whose property have been at their 
mercy, that they have been so merciful, and so 
friendly, and honourable, under the sense they have 
of white men's cruelties and wrongs, is truly a 
matter of wonder ! 

In the epitome of my wanderings, given in this 
little work, it has been seen that I have found my 
way into and through 120 different tribes, in North, 
South, and Central America, and the reader who 
has got thus far in the book, will easily imagine 
that my life and my property have been, much of 
the time, at their mercy ; and will here learn that, 
not only have I found it unnecessary ever to raise 
my hand against one of them, but that they have 
everywhere treated me with hospitality and kind- 
ness : and nowhere, to my knowledge, stolen a six- 
pence worth of my property, though in their 
countries there is universal poverty to stimulate to 
crime, and no law to punish for theft, and where 
travellers carry no trunks with locks and keys ! 

The above statements, if they be true, show us a 
people who -are not only by nature Iranian, but 
humane; and evince a degree of submission and 
forbearance on their part which would be a virtue 
and an honour for any race ; and which, with their 
other claims, entitle them to a better fate than the 
unlucky one they are hastening to. 

In the past pages we have seen these unhappy 



34 6 The Indians, where are they going f 

people in the midst of the cruel onslaughts for gold 
— by cataclysms sunk down ; and by sabres struck 
down, in the progress of their own- civilization ; and 
we have contemplated them in " floods " from which 
tradition tells us, a few only were saved on the tops 
of the mountains — but we have yet to view them in 
another deluge more fatal, and from the drowning 
waves of which it is to be feared the mountain- 
tops will save no one of them — the Flood of Emi- 
gration ! 

After cataclysms, the Indians' misfortune in 
South America, in Mexico, and Hispaniola, was in 
their gold ; and that done, there is yet a chance of 
their living. Their misfortune in North America, 
that they owned the broadest and richest country 
on the globe, teeming with all the luxuries tempting 
to white man's cupidity — the temperature of its 
climate — the richness of its soil — its vast prairies 
speckled with buffaloes, and its rivers and mountains 
abounding in valuable furs,, in latitudes most 
suitable for emigration, and that emigration led and 
pushed on by a popular government which could 
have but one motion, and that onward, to the Rocky 
Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. 

Lnder such accumulated circumstances the In- 
dians' fate was sealed— their doom was fixed ; and 
in that " flood," which has been for a half century 
spreading over their country, the last of them are 
now being engulfed: and as If gold must necessarily 



The Indians, where are they going? 347 

have its share in their destruction, its shining scales 
are being turned up in various parts of the Rocky 
Mountains, adding fury to the maddened throng 
who are now concentrating for its search in the very 
centre of the vast solitudes to which advancing civi- 
lization has been driving the poor Indians, both from 
the east and the west, as their last possible hold 
in existence. 

Unlike the gold searchers in Mexico and Peru, 
who struck their blows, got their gold in masses, and 
were off, the gold seekers in the Rocky Mountains 
will hold on — their mines will last, and the poor 
Indians, between gold diggers, and squatters, and 
whisky sellers, who are all armed with repeating 
rifles and revolvers, will lengthen their days as long 
as they can, but there will be few of them. 

For the last fifty years a lucrative traffic in 
whisky, paid for in beaver and other furs, and 
buffalo robes, has led to dissipation and poverty of 
the poor Indians, and introduced small-pox and 
other diseases, which have often swept off in a few 
months one half in many tribes, and two-thirds 
and even three-fourths, in others. 

The disastrous and cruel consequences sure to 
flow from this traffic, with two or three thousand 
unprincipled men in the mountains and valleys of 
the Far West, under the direction of rich and 
powerful companies, has often been pointed out to 
the government ; but in countries so far beyond the 



348 The Indians, where are they going? 

reach of laws, nothing has been done effectually to 
check it ; and now the predicted consequences are 
seen in their full force. 

The combined causes of border emigration moving 
on faster than the government can purchase the 
lands of the Indians— the unemployed hunters, and 
trappers, and whisky sellers, whose business is 
declining, and a headlong stampedo of half-crazy 
adventurers flying to the gold fields of the Rocky 
Mountains, form a phalanx of the most desperate 
men, who take possession of the Indians' country 
—claim it, and hold it — pronounce the Indians all 
* brutes, who can hold no title"— build towns of log 
huts, and call them " cities"— publish newspapers, 
and announce " Indian murders ! Indian murders 
of white men!" (whether perpetrated or not), call 
upon the government for regiments and armies of 
soldiers to protect them, and these soldiers in their 
country openly advocate " extermination"— offer 
rewards of twenty dollars for every Indians scalp 
that can be taken (with the civil condition an- 
nexed), « provided that both ears are attached to 
them!" 

Here, my young readers, we are upon facts, and 
I am ashamed for the character and honour of my 
country to acknowledge them as such ; and I now 
put the question which I promised to ask, " Who 
is the savage, and which the brute?'' My heart 
bleeds at this, but I cannot prevent it. 



The Indians, where are they going f 349 

Twenty dollars offered by the corporation of Cen- 
tral City,"' in the middle of a state of the Union, for 
every Indian's scalp— for every deliberate murder !— 
What a carte blanche ! what a thriving business the 
trappers and whisky-sellers can make of this ! 
How much better than killing wolves at two dollars 
per head, or catching cunning beavers for three 
dollars! The poor, unsuspecting Indian of any 
distant tribe, whilst hunting for food to feed his 
wife and children, may be shot down, or decoyed 
from his wigwam, made drunk with a pint of 
whisky, and scalped, as the trapper's exigencies 
may demand ; or taken out of his grave, where he 
has been recently buried, and his scalp, " with both 
ears," taken without the merit, and without the 
trouble, of a murder ! 

Why, the butcheries by Cortes and Pizarro and 
De Soto were not half so bad as this ! Can it be 
that, in the present age of civilization and emanci- 
pation, scenes so abhorrent as these are to be coun- 
tenanced or permitted by the government of my 
country, in the centre of one of her confederated 
states ? It is said that an army of men sufficient 
to protect all the white inhabitants in the mountains 
and in the plains is on the -move, and that " exter- 
mination to the savage' is to be the "watch-word." 
I do not believe it— I think better of my country 
than this. 

What ! the government that has just gained ever- 



35° The Indians, where are they going? 

lasting honour before the civilized world by giving 
freedom and rights of citizenship to two millions of 
Africans, now, at the point of the bayonet, to dis- 
franchise and enslave a free and independent people 
—to disinherit her " red children" whose lands she 
holds, and (to protect a set of murderous adven- 
turers in the Rocky Mountains), to dispute their 
existence ! I cannot believe this, and I will not, 
for I wish yet to lay my bones in my native land. ' 

I have so far briefly enumerated the principal 
misfortunes of the poor Indians, but there is yet 
one other, not less unfortunate or less lamentable 
for them in its results— they have no newspapers, 
no missiles to herald, post-haste, their griefs, their 
wrongs, to the ears of the world ; but all deaths, 
when they are shot down by the rifles of their 
enemies, and all abuses of their wives and children, 
are muffled and silenced in the vast solitudes around 
them, whilst every blow struck by an Indian in 
retaliation, rings and echoes over every part of the 
continent as "wilful murder and massacre by the 
infernal savage !" Glorious institution, the "Press," 
but how much more glorious if it were not one- 
sided ! 

I have long been aware of the approaching Indian 
crisis which now is evidently at hand, and in my 
notes written on the Upper Missouri, and published 
thirty years since, I predicted it in the following 
terms:— "The Sioux of 25,000, the Mandans of 



The Indians, where are they going ? 351 

2000, the Assineboins of 7000, the Minatarrees of 
2500, the Chayennes of 6000, the Pawnees of 10,000, 
and numerous smaller tribes of the prairies which I 
have visited, and who are living exclusively on the 
flesh of the buffaloes (their only food, for in the 
vast plains where these cattle range, there are no 
other animals for food), making their tents of their 
hides, and robes and clothing for themselves and 
families, are soon to be left in a state of destitution, 
and, in fact, in absolute starvation, in which they 
will have to flee to the base of the Rocky Mountains 
to get animals for their subsistence, 

" The cause of this approaching misfortune, which 
is soon to come upon them, is the nefarious busi- 
ness of rum and whisky selling, which is driven to 
that extent, by rich and rival companies, that in 
a very few years the vast herds of buffaloes that 
now graze on the prairies in the plains of the Platte 
and the Missouri will be destroyed. These are every 
year concentrating into a narrow compass, and 
being followed up by the various tribes on all sides, 
the last of them will suddenly disappear ; the last 
animal will be skinned, and 200,000 Indians who 
now subsist on their flesh, and at least 500,000 
wolves that live by picking the bones of the ani- 
mals slain, will come together, and face 10 face will 
have to contend for existence. 

" Though the government at Washington have 
passed laws prohibiting the passing of whisky into 



352 The Indians, where are they going? 

the Indian countries, they appoint Indian agents, 
who are silent members of the trading companies, 
and, having control over the whole Indian country, 
facilitate the entrance of as much whisky as the 
traders require. 

" This whisky, which is distilled by these com-* 
panies at St. Louis or other towns on the frontier, 
is conveyed into the Indian country in 'high wines' 
(alcohol), and for the Indians' use is diluted, each 
pint of alcohol making three pints of Indian 
whisky. At the mouth of the Yellow Stone, on 
the Upper Missouri, the principal factory on the 
Missouri, the price of this diluted whisk}' is 
eighteen dollars per gallon ; and transported from 
that on horses to the Crows and Blackfeet, the 
price becomes thirty-two dollars per gallon ! Such 
are the prices that these poor people pay for their 
dissipations. 

" At this P os t, and the other trading establish- 
ments on the Missouri and Platte, the uniform price 
of buffalo robes, beautifully dressed by the Indian 
women, is a pint of Indian whisky ; so that one 
pint of alcohol buys three buffalo robes, worth, in 
St. Louis, from five to eight dollars each! And 
here (discovered perhaps by accident, and probably 
never patented), it was ascertained that tobacco 
soaked in whisky made the whisky much more 
pungent and more intoxicating, and this important 
discovery, being brought into a working process 



The Indians, where are they going ? 353 

here, results, greatly to the fur company's advan- 
tage, in the following simple and beautiful manner. 

" In the fur company's retailing store, inside of 
their fort, they have two barrels of whisky standing 
on end, side by side, with taps near their bottoms, 
for drawing out the liquor. One of these barrels 
has a part of the heading taken out, and a keg of 
plug-tobacco being knocked to pieces, the tobacco 
is thrown into the barrel of whisky, and even- 
morning, with a stick long enough to reach to the 
bottom, the tobacco and whisky are well stirred 
about. 

"This precious barrel is marked Xo. 1, and the 
other Xo. 2. And when the poor Indians come in 
with their buffalo skins and throw them down, the 
clerk inquires which kind they desire, Xo. 1 or 
Xo. 2 ; if Xo. 1, two robes are taken instead of one! 
And as most important discoveries lead to others, 
this has resulted in this way : when the whisky is 
out, and the tobacco dried and prepared for smok- 
ing, it has been ascertained that the Indians are 
quite willing to pay a double price for it, from the 
flavour it has acquired by lying in the whisky! 

" The profit arising from this sort of commerce is 
easily calculated, and also the results that it must 
sooner or later lead to ; and from forty to fifty thou- 
sand buffalo robes are taken down the Missouri to 
St. Louis every summer, (for which the animals are 
mostly killed in the winter, when their hair is the 

A A 



354 The I ndians r where are they going ? 

longest, and their flesh too poor to eat), in addition 
to the vast numbers killed for the subsistence of 
200,000 Indians. From these statements something 
like an estimate can be made of the rapid decrease 
of these animals (which reproduce only at the rate 
of common cattle), and, as I have said, of their 
approaching extinction/' 

For the above prophecy and "unjust attack tipon 
the Fur Company;' I have had some unfriendly 
denunciations by the press, and by those critics I 
have been reproachfully designated the "Indian- 
loving Catlin" What of this? What have I to 
answer ? Have I any apology to make for loving 
the Indians ? The Indians have always loved me, 
and why should I not love the Indians ? 

I love the people who have always made me 
welcome to the best they had. 

I love a people who are honest without laws, who 
have no jails and no poor-houses. 

I love a people who keep the commandments 
without ever having read them or heard them 
preached from the pulpit. 

I love a people who never swear, who never take 
the name of God in vain. 

I love a people who " love their neighbours as 
they love themselves." 

I love a people who worship God without a Bible, 
for I believe that God loves them also. 



The Indians, where are they going f 355 

I love the people whose religion is all the same, 
and who are free from religious animosities. 

I love the people who never have raised a hand 
against me, or stolen my property, where there was 
no law to punish for either. 

I love the people who never have fought a battle 
with white man, except on their own ground. 

I love and don't fear mankind where God has 
made and left them, for there they are children. 

I love a people who live and keep what is their 
own without locks and keys. 

I love all people who do the best they can. And 
oh, how I love a people who don't live for the love 
of money ! 

It has been sneeringly said that I have %< spoken 
too well of the Indians," (better to speak too well 
of them than not to speak well enough) — " that I 
have flattered them" — (better to flatter them than 
to caricature them ; there have been enough to do 
this). If I have overdone their character, they have 
had in me one friend, at least ; and I will not shrink 
from the sin and responsibility of it. 

I was luckily born in time to see these people in 
their native dignity, and beauty, and independence, 
and to be a living witness to the cruelties with which 
they have been treated worse than dogs ; and now 
to be treated worse than wolves! And in my 
former publications I have predicted just what is 



356 The Indians, where are they going? 

now taking" place — that in their thrown, and hunted 
down, and starved condition, the future " gallopers" 
across the plains and Rocky Mountains would see 
here and there the scattered, and starving, and beg- 
ging, and haggard remnants of these once proud and 
handsome people — represent them, in their entailed 
misen" and wretchedness, as "the Sioux" "the Chay- 
ennes" " the Osagcs" &c, and me> of course, as a liar. 

From the very first settlement on the Atlantic 
coast, there has been a continued series of Indian 
wars. In every war the whites have been victorious, 
and every war has ended in " Surrender of Indian 
Territory!' Every battle which the whites have 
lost has been a " massacre" and every battle by 
the Indians lost, a "glorious victory!" And yet, 
to their immortal honour, be it history with its in- 
ferences, (for it is truth), they never fought a battle 
with civilized men, excepting on their own ground ! 
What are the inferences from this ; and to whose 
eternal shame stands the balance in the books ? 

I have said that I was lucky enough to have been 
born at the right time to have seen these people in 
their native dignity and elegance ; and, thanks to 
Him in whose hands the destinies of all men are, 
that my life has been spared to visit most of the 
tribes in every latitude of the American continent, 
and my hand enabled to delineate their personal 
looks and their modes, to be seen and to be criti- 
cised after the people and myself shall have passed 
away. 



The Indians, where are they going ? 357 

I have devoted fourteen years of my life, and 
all my earthly means, in visiting these scattered and 
remote people, and with my toils and privations, I 
have had my enjoyments. These have been 
curiously mixed, and generally by chance and by 
accident, which probably have beneficially relieved 
the one and the other from injurious anticipations 
and excitement 

My works are done, and as well as I could do 
them under the circumstances. I have had no 
government, society, or individual aid, but travelled 
and laboured at my own expense. In my writings 
and my paintings I have quoted no one ; but have 
painted and written of things that I saw and heard, 
and of nothing else. My works will probably be 
published in full (too late for my benefit), but for 
the benefit and instruction of others who come be- 
hind me. 

Art may mourn when these people are swept 
from the earth, and the artists of future ages may 
look in vain for another race so picturesque in their 
costumes, their weapons, their colours, their manly 
games, and their chase ; and so well adapted to 
that talent which alone is able to throw a speaking 
charm into marble, or to spread it upon the 
canvass. 

The native grace, simplicity, and dignity of these 
natural people so much resemble the ancient 
marbles, that one is irresistibly led to believe that 

A A 2 



35$ The Indians, where are they going ? 

the Grecian sculptors had similar models to study 
from. And their costumes and weapons, the toga, 
the tunique, and manteau (of skins), the bow, the 
shield, the lance, so precisely similar to those of 
ancient times, convince us that a second (and last) 
strictly classic era is passing from the world. 

In a political and ethnological point of view, also, 
from their evanescent position, these people and 
their modes, at this time, are surely subjects of 
peculiar interest, reduced, since the discover}- of 
America, from seven or eight millions to an eighth 
part of that number at the present time ; and that 
remainder, from the causes already mentioned, with 
no other prospect than rapid decimation and final 
extinction. 

Of the irresistible, individual means that have 
been used, and of the various policies of the United 
States government, tending to (though not intended 
for) the destruction of these people, it has not been 
the intention of this little work to speak other than 
in brief and general terms ; nor would it be justice 
towards the Indians, or to those who read, if I 
were to omit to say in this place that the causes 
which have so far led to their destruction are still in 
force ; that rum and whisky and disease are still 
dispensed amongst them from one end of the fron- 
tier to the other ; and (what pains me most to say) 
that my ancient friends, the Sioux, the Chayennes, 
and other tribes of the plains, who treated me with 



The Indians, where are they going '? 359 

uniform kindness and hospitality, and made me 
welcome in their villages thirty-three years ago, are 
now being swept from their beautiful plains into 
the Rocky Mountains by armies of men armed 
with cannons and revolvers ! 

These poor people, whose cruel fate posterity 
will lament, whose countries for more than half a 
century have been scourged (and in some places 
depopulated) by rum and whisky and smallpox, 
and who are now being driven into the mountains, 
will certainly perish there ; but, in their death- 
struggle, will as certainly wreak a cruel and costly 
vengeance on the powers that are sending them 
there, as well as upon the settlers of the frontiers 
and the innocent travellers who venture to cross the 
vast and uninhabited solitudes of the great plains 
and the Rocky Mountains. 

The remnants of numerous tribes driven from 
both sides into the desolate wilds and wastes of 
the Rocky Mountains, alike impressed with the un- 
dying sense of white man's cruelty to teach to their 
children, will there unite for sway and vengeance 
in regions which require but little in addition to 
their natural features to bid defiance to white man's 
existence. 

Across those vast and frozen and uninhabitable 
tracts the United States are sending mail-bags on 
the backs of ponies, and telegraphs by a single 
wire, and might have done so for the fifty years 



360 The Indians, where are they going? 

past and for the fifty years to come, without mo- 
lestation from the Indians; but how long, in a 
state of war, and war for extermination, can this be 
done ? 

Other wires are to be stretched amongst the 
rocks, and a railway is to be built, and is being 
built, and goods and valuable treasures and human 
life are to be wheeled by day and by night over 
and through those vast and desert solitudes, and 
what security will there be for either ? 

I have seen some estimates in the American 
papers that the " Pony Express" alone is going to 
require 10,000 men, at an expense of a million of 
dollars per annum, to protect it ! If that be so (and 
I believe it), what force and at what cost, will pro- 
tect a single wire when the Indians are in a state 
of starvation and death, fighting for existence; 
their scalps advertised for at twenty dollars each, 
and the telegraphic wire (the very thing they want 
to point their arrows with) stretched through a 
thousand miles of rocks and snowdrifts ? or the 
nightly passing train, that a simple rock or block of 
wood upon the rail would enable an ambuscade 
of Indians, in five minutes, in the dead of night, to 
revenge the death of hundreds of their brothers, 
wives, and children, and enrich themselves with 
plunder, to be hidden in the unapproachable soli- 
tudes and caves of the mountains ; or the same 
rocks and blocks of wood laid, and the hellish booty 



The Indians, where are they going? 361 

shared, by pale-faced {moccasined) bandits (there 
will be enough of them), to be avenged upon the 
Indians ? 

I have seen the country and I know the people, 
and I imagine the time near at hand when a Pony 
Express, a telegraphic wire, and a railway will each 
require 100,000 men to ensure them security; and 
then will be shouted by the acquisitive race, like 
thunder from the heavens, " On, on, merciful civi- 
lization ! the treasures of the earth are thine, and 
death to the savage !" when the last of the race 
will be tracked by bloodhounds, and sent to the 
dust with " Sharp's rifles !" 



THE END. 



CHISWICK PRESS : — PRINTED BY W.HITTINGHAM AND WILKINS, 
TOOKS COURT. CHANCERY LANE. 



mm 



